Airport decision expected by May

BATON ROUGE, La. - State leaders will decide by May 1 whether to continue efforts to build a $4.4 billion airport near Donaldsonville. Critics claim the state has spent too much on a 17-year project that has failed to attract private investors. Backers envision an airport with links to water, rail and highways built on a 25,000-acre site. Supporters contend the airport, called the Louisiana Transportation Center, would be the biggest economic development project in state history. Donaldsonville is between Baton Rouge and New Orleans along Interstate 10. (Source: Baton Rouge Advocate, 04/02/09)