DENHAM SPRINGS - A lawsuit linked to the 2016 flood and concrete barriers along I-12 settled for millions of dollars, now going towards drainage improvement in Livingston Parish.

During the 2016 flood, one side of I-12 in parts of Denham Springs and Walker was completely covered in flood water, with few outlets on the barriers for the water to drain to the other side.

"The walls really held the water back; there was no seepage. There was no way to get the water out of here; it was just a big problem for us," Denham Springs Mayor Gerard Landry said.

Leading the city of Denham Springs and Walker filed a lawsuit against the contractors in 2017, claiming those median barriers blocked the flow of water, which Denham Springs Mayor Gerard Landry says they believe was a contributing factor to a tremendous amount of damage in the city.

"I know I was talking to a family that's a well-known family in town, and they have a lot of acreage, and they had like 200 head of cattle, and they were on the second floor of their home. When they were rescued, put into a boat, and they brought them to the interstate, and his cows were at the wall as well, and he lost them; they drowned in the flood waters," Landry said.

The lawsuit settled in January of 2025, awarding the cities 21.5 million dollars; 6.4 million will go to DOTD to modify those existing median barriers.

"We'll have various-sized gaps in the median barriers, and that will allow flow to go across the median, as well as across the interstate, for improved hydraulic efficiency across the interstate," DOTD Secretary Glenn Ledet said.

Work on the median barriers will start at the East Baton Rouge Parish line and extend about 13 miles into Livingston Parish.

"We've been designing this project for the last year, and that project was advertised and bid for construction this summer, and the contractor is starting in September, so we've been working aggressively over the last year to get this project moving."

Walker Mayor Jimmy Watson and Mayor Landry tell me any money left over after the project will go towards other drainage projects in the cities.

The project is expected to be completed by late next year.