Port Fourchon, Louisiana | |
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  Port Fourchon Location in Louisiana Show map of Louisiana Port Fourchon Location in the United States Show map of the United States | |
| Coordinates:29°06′21″N90°11′40″W / 29.10583°N 90.19444°W /29.10583; -90.19444 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Louisiana |
| Parish | Lafourche |
| Elevation | 1 ft (0.30 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (CST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| Area code | 985 |
Port Fourchon isLouisiana’s southernmost port, located on the southern tip ofLafourche Parish, on theGulf of Mexico. It is a seaport, with significant petroleum industry traffic from offshore Gulf oil platforms and drilling rigs as well as theLouisiana Offshore Oil Port pipeline. Fourchon's primary service markets are domestic deepwater oil and gas exploration, drilling, and production in the Gulf. Port Fourchon currently services over 90% of the Gulf of Mexico's deepwater oil production. There are over 600oil platforms within a 40-mile radius of Port Fourchon. This area furnishes 16 to 18 percent of theUS oil supply.[1]
Port Fourchon is part of theHouma–Bayou Cane–ThibodauxMetropolitan Statistical Area.
Port Fourchon was developed as a multi-use facility. It has historically been a land base for offshore oil support services as well as a land base for the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP). In addition, there is commercial and recreational fishing, a foreign cargo shipping terminal, and an area for recreation and tourism.
The Board of Commissioners of the Greater Lafourche Port Commission is charged with ensuring the progress and continued development of Port Fourchon and the South Lafourche Leonard Miller, Jr. Airport. Nine members seated at-large comprise the Commission in lettered seats A through I. Every six years, the people of the Tenth Ward of Lafourche Parish elect all nine commissioners.
The Greater Lafourche Port Commission, established by the state of Louisiana in 1960 as a political subdivision of the state of Louisiana, exercises jurisdiction over the Tenth Ward of Lafourche Parish south of the Intracoastal Waterway, including the seaport and the airport. The Port Commission facilitates the economic growth of the communities in which it operates by maximizing the flow of trade and commerce, largely through Port Fourchon. Bristow Helicopters and Petroleum Helicopters International Inc. both operate helicopters out of the heliport at Port Fourchon that ferry people and supplies to the Offshore Oil Drilling and Production Platform Rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, such at the BP Thunderhorse PDQ that lies 150 miles to the South.
Port Fourchon was damaged byHurricane Lili in October 2002.[2] It did not take a direct hit byHurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, and was only slightly damaged.[3] Sixteen years after Katrina, the center of category 4Hurricane Ida made landfall in Port Fourchon at 11:54 am CDT, August 29, 2021, with sustained winds of 150 mph (240 km/h).[4]
Port Fourchon is a short distance offLouisiana Highway 1 (LA 1), the road toGrand Isle, viaLouisiana Highway 3090. It is the southernmost point of Louisiana accessible by automobile.
As a critical infrastructure of national significance, LA 1 provides a vital link to Port Fourchon. In the mid-2000's, funding was sought to begin replacing a 17-mile (27-km) stretch of LA 1, the road into Port Fourchon. Having been designated as a "High Priority" corridor by Congress in 2001, a solution was needed to replace the road prone to flooding and natural disaster being outside the hurricane levee system. The replacement was an elevated highway that can stand up to a major storm and remain open even if the land around it floods. In 2007, a seven-mile (11-km) section of the project fromLeeville to Port Fourchon, including a higher bridge acrossBayou Lafourche, began construction and was completed in December 2011.
The next phase in the LA-1 Project looked to extend the elevated highway from within the flood gates ofGolden Meadow to Port Fourchon. The final design was approved in December 2018 and funding was fully secured in 2022. The groundbreaking for the new 8.3 mile extension of elevated highway took place on June 24, 2022 with an estimated completion date of June 2027.
Municipalities and communities ofLafourche Parish, Louisiana,United States | ||
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| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent parish or parishes | |
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