Muddy roads will soon give way to asphalt and bare ground transformed with sod and landscaping as construction of the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Cemetery near Slidell enters its final stages.
The Times-Picayune reports the $8 million cemetery is scheduled to open in April. The 75-acre site is on the north side of Interstate 12 next to the Louisiana National Guard's Camp Villere in St. Tammany Parish.
SBS Construction of Baton Rouge is building the cemetery on property donated by the National Guard. Work began in December 2012.
The administration building is more than halfway completed. Elsewhere, crews continue to work at the entrance to the cemetery and the pavilion where funeral services will be held.