BATON ROUGE - Project leaders behind the University Lakes Restoration project say that a lot of progress has been made, but there is still much work to do.

They held an open house at the Baton Rouge Gallery on Thursday evening to provide updates and answer questions the public has about the project.

"We're funded through 2026. Is that going to be the end of the project? No. That's not going to be the end of the project, and that's ok," Louisiana State Representative Dixon McMakin said to the large crowd.

The project recently cleared a major milestone, nearing total completion on phase one of its two primary phases. Phase one includes dredging City Park Lake and Lake Erie, and then landscaping their shorelines. The two lakes have already been dredged, and landscaping is now being installed.

Additionally, Phase one also includes improvements to May St.

"May StREET improvements are already under construction, they're scheduled to be completed in September of 2026. The phase one landscaping is being installed now along the shorelines of City Park Lake and Lake Erie, and it should be completed by October of this year," Project Manager Mark Goodson said.

Phase two includes dredging University Lake and College Lake. Goodson says that College Lake is already completely dredged and that University Lake is about halfway there.

"We'll landscape the shorelines of those lakes as well, so that's phase two plus phase one, which will be completed by the end of 2026," Goodson said.

According to Goodson, the cost for the entire project is just under $80 million. The project aims to improve water quality, restore natural habitats, enhance public access to the lakes, and reduce flood risks.

"The question that one person put out was if you're going to put all the material back into the lake on the edges in different places, how is it going to be a flood control project because you haven't created any more space for runoff?", Baton Rouge resident Bryan McDaniel said.

Goodson says that the material being dredged from the lake is being used onsite.

It's either being placed along the shoreline to create what we call living shorelines to help slow down and filter the water before it runs back into the lakes, or it's going to the bird sanctuary, which is being over doubled in size," Goodson says.

There are two primary ways that the project aims to reduce flood risks. One is that the lakes are being deepened to increase their capacity. The other is improvements made to the dam on Stanford Ave. Goodson says the dam can now be opened in advance of a major storm to draw the lakes down and create room to store more stormwater.

Residents shared their opinion on the project with WBRZ. Many said they'd rather the project be longer if it meant it looked better.

'I would like it to be done correctly, and if it takes more time to do that, fine by me. As long as it's good when it's done," Baton Rouge Resident Mark Martin said.

As for what is next for the project, Goodson says it's working on getting additional funding for things like bike paths.

"There were additional improvements that were called for in the master plan, namely, multi-use paths that go all the way around the lakes, separated from vehicular traffic for pedestrians and cyclists. With the exception of May Street, we are still looking for funding to construct the rest of those paths around the lakes, so that's not included in what's funded now," Goodson said.

A question many have been asking is why the project is taking much longer than expected.

"Really, the major challenge as to why it's a little slow right now in University Lake is the fill that was being pumped in. We expected it to settle a little quicker than it has, so it's taken a while to settle. It's down now, so they're back pumping into the bird sanctuary, but that's the thing that slowed us down there, the rate at which they can pump in there," LSU Real Estate and Facilities Foundation official Rob Stuart said.