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New Iberia gets grant to fund canoe/kayak dock 

Posted at 2:09 PM, May 22, 2019
and last updated 2019-05-22 15:09:16-04

The City of New Iberia has won a grant to fund a downtown canoe/kayak dock.

The grant money comes from the Federal Highway Administration and is passing through Louisiana’s Recreational Trails Program, administered by the Lieutenant Governor’s Office of State Parks.

According to a release from the city, the funds will cover construction of the New Iberia Trailhead on a .42-acre site on the banks of Bayou Teche. The land is adjacent to the New Iberia National Register Commercial Historic District at the base of the Duperier Street Bridge.

The project will include a floating dock structure, an elevated pathway to the dock, public parking, lighting, kiosk signage identifying the historic nature of the park, paddling trail signage, benches, trash cans and a walkway trail from the Duperier Street Bridge into the pocket park.

Bayou Teche was to the National Water Trail System in 2015, the 17th water trail in the country and the first in Louisiana. The Bayou Teche is a 135-mile-long waterway of great cultural significance in south central Louisiana in the United States, and New Iberia’s dock is one of several either proposed or installed along the waterway, the release states.

New Iberia Mayor Freddie DeCourt wanted to say a special thank you to the Lt. Governor and to Louisiana Senator Fred H. Mills, Jr. – District 22 for his continued support for tourism based projects along the Bayou Teche Corridor and the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area, and Michael W. Domingue, Recreational Trails Program Administrator for Louisiana.