Business & Technology

The state is preparing to spend millions of dollars repaving Interstate 10 in Kenner and the Airport Access Road.

The Times-Picayune reports Barriere Construction Co. this week entered the only bid to overlay the highway between the St. Charles Parish line and Williams Boulevard.

Barriere's bid — almost $4.8 million — came in about $500,000 above the state's Department of Transportation and Development estimate of almost $4.2 million.

Construction usually begins two to four months after bids are opened.

No country has enjoyed more spectacular growth in recent decades than China. But the economy that will one day replace America's as the world's largest also faces a lot of challenges. Guest host David Greene talks to NPR's Frank Langfitt, who was a reporter in China in the '90s and returned to Shanghai for NPR last year.

Warm winter weather led to stink bugs showing up earlier than usual this year — bad news for soybean farmers because redbanded stink bugs can destroy entire fields if left unchecked.

The threat comes as high prices and drier weather prompted Louisiana and Mississippi farmers to boost soybean acreage from last year.

The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded an $18.6 million contract for drainage construction in the Industrial Canal area on Jefferson Parish's west bank.

The contract, an element of the Louisiana Urban Flood Damage Reduction Project, seeks to reduce flooding that might result from about 9 inches of rain falling over a 24-hour period.

The contract was awarded to Fleming Construction Co. of Jefferson Parish.

The 36-month project includes removing underground drainage pipes and replacing them with a reinforced concrete open channel.