Renovations to make way for the 200,000-square-foot injection molding facility already are underway at the company’s Stoner Avenue location. The facility will open Oct. 1 and employ 25 new workers at an average of $32,000 a year, according to a press release.

The investment, which ultimately will cut costs, was necessary to ensure the company’s ability to compete in the global market place, said Marcus Wren III, Music Mountain CEO and president. Currently, Music Mountain purchases its bottles from a Fort Worth company.

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Jindal was joined by state legislators, local officials and the family of the late Alvin B. Kessler, a longtime champion of the highway project whose name will be affiliated with portions of the interstate, at the Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce Thursday to sign House Bill 370 into law. The bill, authored by state Rep. Jane Smith, gives the state bond commission authority to issue bonds secured by unclaimed property monies for the I-49 project. The Louisiana Transportation Authority previously had that power. Portions funded through the unclaimed property fund will be designated as the Alvin B. Kessler Memorial Highway.

State highway officials estimate approximately $87 million in bonds will be sold for the two final segments of the project, depending on the conditions of the financial market. About $60 million would fund the leg connecting Highway 1 to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Another 27 million would be used to continue to Interstate 220. The remainder of the $160 million would come from capital outlay funds.

“This is not just important for northwest Louisiana,” Jindal said, noting the completion of I-49 North will connect the ports of north and south

Louisiana and businesses and markets in the central part of the state to northern states and Canada.

Louisiana will take on a different landscape with the completion of I-49 North, I-49 North Coalition Chairman Bob Gorman said.

He said the corridor is an important link to the state and national transportation network and will grow area commerce.

Rep. Jane Smith said the completion of I-49 North will open Louisiana’s northern border to the rest of the nation. She said legislators knew how important the project was for the state and worked hard to ensure related legislation passed.

“Our delegation stood firm. We never argued, we said ‘this is our top priority and nothing will take its place,’” she said. “And for that reason we stand here today with this achievement.

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