New landscaping, May Street closure: The latest on the University Lakes Project

Will the University Lakes Project ever be finished? Ongoing dredging, overgrown shorelines and an abundance of heavy equipment in the area make it hard to tell. But officials say the project is staying on pace, with a few important milestones recently met.

Dredging is done in parts of the system, and earlier this month, construction crews broke ground on the long-awaited May Street bridge project, which will ultimately deliver a two-lane bridge complete with protected pedestrian pathways spanning the newly connected lakes.

Funded thus far at $75 million, the University Lakes Project has been divided into phases, with Phase 1 focusing on the dredging and deepening of City Park Lake and Lake Erie, and Phase 2 on University Lake and its smaller surrounding lakes. Here’s the latest.

Phase 1 dredging is now complete, and work on the May Street bridge is in progress

Water quality is visibly improved in City Park Lake, says project lead Mark Goodson, principal with consulting firm CSRS. The remaining parts of Phase 1 are now underway, including the realignment and bridge construction on May Street—one of the most visible and exciting parts of the plan—along with native landscaping soon to be planted on the newly expanded shorelines of City Park Lake and Lake Erie.

May Street closed to both cars and pedestrians on June 4. It won’t reopen until the project is completed around August 2026. Alternate routes include Stanford Avenue or the northern end of Dalrymple Drive near City Park.

The closure will likely create traffic headaches during LSU home games this fall, but the payoff is promising.

“The May Street improvements include, most notably, cutting a new channel between City Park Lake and University Lake, bridging that channel with a new span bridge and realigning the street to help improve the safety of the intersections on either side of Dalrymple and East Lakeshore,” Goodson says.

The new two-lane bridge features 14-foot multiuse pathways on both sides, Goodson says. A small barrier wall will separate walkers and joggers from motorists, delivering the kind of safety and separation users of the lakes have long craved. The paths on the bridge will connect to existing paths on Dalrymple and to a limited new path on East Lakeshore that runs to Morning Glory Avenue. The changes promise to bring safer, more enjoyable conditions to an area that’s been defined by uneven footing and three-way traffic. New street lighting will also be installed, as well as improved parking and lighting in May Street Park. The project should be completed by the end of summer 2026.

Phase 1’s ongoing work also includes new landscaping around City Park Lake and Lake Erie, where the shorelines have already been enlarged with dredge material. These areas were cleared of overgrowth last fall, but they’ve become overgrown again. In the next few months, they’ll be cleared with additional soil added. Then they’ll be planted with native iris, marsh grasses and low-growing perennials, Goodson says. Completed by the end of September, the new landscaping is intended to help slow and filter runoff before it enters the lake.

Phase 2A has already been underway, including dredging of the larger University Lake

Dredging should be completed on its northern swath by the end of the summer, and it has already been completed on the smaller College Lake on its southern end. Goodson says that crews will soon landscape these particular shorelines in the same manner that’s about to happen around City Park Lake.

University Lake passersby may have spotted what looks like the return of water hyacinths near Dalrymple Drive. Goodson says it’s actually a floating plant called swamp lettuce that has always appeared in the lakes in the summer.

“As the water gets healthier, we expect that the vegetation will be less prevalent, like it is in City Park Lake,” Goodson says.

Goodson says that vegetation in University Lake and Lake Crest is maintained by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, but that its work has been interrupted by the widening of Interstate-10. The long-term goal, however, is to prevent as much of the swamp lettuce from coming back in the summer as possible.

What’s next: Phase 2B will see the remainder of University Lake dredged and landscaped

Goodson says that additional trails and recreational features like the ones depicted in the 2016 master plan have not been budgeted, but that his team is continuing to look for funding to support them.

And while the dredging hasn’t been the most fun or attractive project for the lakes’ throngs of pedestrians, it’s been an essential first step.

“Without a healthy lake system, there wouldn’t be a recreational amenity to enjoy,” Goodson says. “We had to get that ecosystem fixed first.”