Bogalusa Public Works Director James Hall said Old Settlers Road will be closed as a throughway for months, while the city waits for federal help with fixing a series of culverts that were badly damaged in March flooding.

Hall said the city is getting help from the Natural Resources Conservation Services, a federal office under the USDA that has helped Bogalusa in the past maintain the Bogue Lusa Creek.

Hall said the upside is tath the NRCS will provide repair the five damaged culverts, the road, the base and the wall with a 75-25 match — meaning the federal government will cover three-fourths of the cost of the project. Hall said the city could contribute a quarter of the cost through in-kind contribution, or labor.

Hall estimates this will save the city $35,000 to $40,000.

“There’s a lot more to it than just putting a culvert in a ditch,” he said.

The downside is, the project will take months to complete.

“We hate to inconvenience people,” he said, “but this is how we have to work projects so we can afford them. The NRCS is great, we have to work at their speed.”

Old Settlers Road is a residential street off Highway 21, and while the project is underway, residents on the street have points of entry and exit at either end of the street.