BATON ROUGE — The Metropolitan Council has approved the Revive Plank Road initiative, securing a $20 million investment into the Plank Road corridor in North Baton Rouge.

Councilman Darryl Hurst called the passage a major step forward for a community that has long been part of revitalization conversations without seeing significant investment.

"This is what happens when we stop talking about what North Baton Rouge deserves and start putting real dollars behind it," said Hurst in a prepared statement. "Tonight, we secured a $20 million investment into the Plank Road corridor. This is about our businesses. This is about our neighborhoods. This is about our families."

"Most importantly, this is about showing the people of North Baton Rouge that they deserve the same level of investment, development and opportunity as every other part of our city," Hurst said.

Hurst also thanked his colleagues on the council for their support.

The passage follows months of planning, community engagement and conversations with residents, business owners, elected officials, seniors, economic development leaders and other stakeholders about the future of the corridor.

The $20 million investment is aimed at bringing economic development, infrastructure improvements and visual transformation to the corridor while helping draw additional private investment to North Baton Rouge.