Home Care In Minden, LA

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development advises motorists that the $19.3 million project to replace the LA 531 overpass over I-20 near Minden in Webster Parish is moving closer to completion.

Major construction on the new LA 531 overpass is now complete, and the contractor is preparing to swap traffic onto the newly built bridge.

On the nights of March 25-29, 2025, I-20 eastbound and westbound at the LA 531 interchange will be closed. These nighttime closures are scheduled to take place from approximately 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. each night, and is necessary to allow the contractor demolish and remove the old bridge.

Through traffic on I-20 will be detoured on to and off the LA 531 ramps during these closures. This will allow the contractor to safely conduct the bridge removal operations.

Other current work includes the construction of the two roundabouts that are taking shape at the on and off-ramps and will replace the stop sign controlled intersection. These roundabouts will allow for a much safer and more efficient traffic flow as drivers enter and exit the interstate and turn onto LA 531.

The entire project is anticipated to wrap up in early Summer 2025, with progress dependent on weather conditions and other factors that can impact construction timelines.

The LA 531 corridor at I-20 is home to several truck stops and services about 9,000 vehicles per day. This infrastructure investment will ensure continued connectivity for both residents and businesses who utilize this route on a daily basis.

Safety reminder:

DOTD appreciates your patience and reminds you to please drive with caution through the construction site and be on the lookout for work crews and their equipment. Remember to leave plenty of room between you and the vehicle in front of you.

Area residents should exercise caution when driving, walking, or biking near an active construction zone.

Additional information:

Call 511, visit www.511la.org, or download the Louisiana 511 mobile app for additional travel information. Out-of-state travelers may call 1-888-ROAD-511 (1-888-762-3511). Motorists may also monitor the LA DOTD website at www.dotd.la.gov, by selecting MyDOTD, or by visiting the DOTD Facebook and X (Twitter) pages.

Fibrebond Corporation announced Tuesday, March 11, 2025 that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Eaton Corporation for $1.4 billion. While Fibrebond is headquartered in Minden, Eaton calls Dublin, Ireland its home base.

Fibrebond, Minden’s largest employer, manufactures and integrates electrical modules that power the data center, industrial, and utility sectors. The company utilizes intelligent design and automation to transform complex construction into a simplified manufactured form.

Later this year, Fibrebond is completing a $150 million expansion on its Minden campus. Fibrebond transports its modules to infrastructure projects across the country.

“We stand firmly at the intersection of massive technological shifts. Our accelerating digital infrastructure work now drives industrial and utility growth,” said Graham Walker, president and chief executive officer of Fibrebond. “Our customers build at a scale we did not foresee even a few years ago. Our team has kept up with the growth while retooling for even greater scale. Today more than ever, our customers value the delivery and cost certainty Fibrebond brings to their sophisticated projects.

“As a private, family-owned business for 43 years, we understand that credibility and trust empower our relationships with our customers, our employee team and our supplier partners,” he said. “Not every company shares our values, but since 2015, Eaton has been a customer that honored their commitments. We are confident Eaton will carry our vision forward and create new opportunities for the Fibrebond team and our community.”

Minden Mayor Nick Cox said he was unaware of the Fibrebond sale until he received a text early Tuesday.

“Within about 5 minutes of getting that text, Fibrebond called me,” Cox said. “They wanted me to help them get the word out that this is going to be OK. It’s going to be a good deal.”

Cox said Eaton, a global company worth $111.5 Billion, will have even more money to invest in the community and the business than the Walker family.

“And they were doing a pretty awesome job,” he added.

Cox said Walker will be staying on the job, and that gives him a sense of peace about the sale.

CLICK HERE to read more of this article at Webster Parish Journal.

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Fibrebond product sits on a concrete pad at the manufacturer’s location in Minden, La., Thursday, April 18, 2024.

Fibrebond in Minden will have a new owner by the end of the third quarter of 2025, if not before.

The north Louisiana company is known nationally for its electrical modules that power utilities, industry and data centers and is more than 60% through a $150 million expansion.

It is being sold to Eaton Corporation, a company whose website homepage reads like a ‘who’s who’ of nations. The multinational corporation, which is based in Ireland with administrative offices in Beachwood, Ohio, manages electrical, hydraulic and mechanical power for governments and businesses in more than 175 countries.

Their products run the gamut from electrical components to fuel systems for the aerospace industry to clutches and brakes for cars and trucks. In 2018, the company also turned its attention to potential growth in the electric car and commercial fleet market.

Graham Walker, the President and CEO of Fibrebond, said though the company may change ownership, the Fibrebond facility will remain in northwest Louisiana, the employees will keep their jobs, and the current leadership team will be there to see it all through.

“I would never sell if it meant that as an individual and as a family, we were sellouts. And so it's been very important along the way to choose a partner that shares our values, shares our kind of collaborative teamwork atmosphere.” He was also searching for a partner committed to quality and growth of the long-term business.

The decision to sell took shape with Walker’s realization that help was needed to keep up with the company's strong growth and to face the challenges of the market. He believed the help could come in the form of infusions of private equity, a partner or something more.

In October 2024, potential purchasers came calling

The search for potential partners started in 2024 with more than a dozen possibilities. It boiled down to one.

Fibrebond and Eaton already had a ten-year relationship, Walker said. “They have really good people that know how to build teams, they know how to build product, and they know how to build a good culture, and they have always, which is rare in our business, they have always done what they said they were going to do.”

Though Eaton is one of the world’s top four players in the low and medium-voltage electrical industry, boasts the strongest distribution network in North America and has spent more than $13 billion on capital expenditures and investments in the past decade, Walker said the benefit is not a one-way street. The acquisition gives Eaton an opportunity to grow as well.

“We were kind of at the point where, and I've told our team as well, you know, at some point, I'm the person that holds the whole business back, and that's not fair to anybody else, right? And so, if I don't have good sound ideas or a good sound way of executing something that yields more employment in North Louisiana and a better company, then at some point we have to bring in somebody from the outside.”

Walker was looking to get closer to where their customers were and a partner with "tremendous skill" at multisite manufacturing. Eaton, he said, had it all.

“If you're a company that is involved in the data center business, the industrial business, the utility business, anything electrical. I mean, Eaton is the name in the United States.”

Walker said the future is going to involve massive technological change in power generation and supply and the fiber that connects data centers. “There's so many things going on there that any of them alone is a very good market, but in combination, they're just really explosive.”

Northwest Louisiana’s oil and gas history, he says, gives the region a unique edge. “That combination of building things and doing complicated work works great for the data center market. And so you've got a lot of things that are going into a data center, that are being built by companies that a decade ago would have been building for the large oil and gas companies. That’s not in any way coincidental.”

Walker is celebrating ten years as President/CEO of Fibrebond the end of this month, and things are happening very much as he had hoped.

"I wanted it to be, in 10 years, something that I could not have ever imagined it would be, right? So you know that will be a fun thing to be a part of."

Email Liz Swaine at [email protected].

It's a done deal. Eaton Corporation has purchased a Minden-based family business to join its multinational offerings.

MINDEN, La. -- For the second time in three weeks, the vote was unanimous, pushing across the finish line a contract to transfer power to City of Minden utility customers from Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) to Louisiana Energy and Power Authority (LEPA).

“This was a campaign promise we made,” said Minden Mayor Nick Cox, referring to his fellow councilpersons as they sought a way to lower energy bills. “We said we were going to look for a way to make this happen. This was a giant day for Minden – a move in the right direction – a day I was looking forward to even before I took office.”

Cox said he likes to set a goal and accomplish it, “and this was a big one.”

During Minden City Council’s Feb. 3 meeting, council members voted unanimously to give Cox the authority to sign the contract with LEPA and Thursday, members of LEPA’s board voted unanimously to allow the city to become a full requirements’ member – and the mayor signed on the dotted line.

Cox said LEPA’s meeting was not a regularly-scheduled gathering but one called to bring Minden onboard.

City of Minden residents and businesses officially will begin receiving power from LEPA June 1, but it may be a few weeks before customers see a change.

“Half the (June) bill will be on (SWEPCO), and half will be on the new,” Cox said. “It may be August before we see a difference, because of the way the billing system is. You won’t see a full bill until then.”

Cox said after the meeting he and Councilman Carleton “Buddy” Myles met with engineers.

“We talked about designing the new meters, so LEPA will be able to meter the power that comes in,” he said. “LEPA will be able to audit the power charges that pass through. That will be at the substation.”

Not everything will change.

Local maintenance and repairs will remain with Minden’s utility crews. The City of Minden will handle downed lines, routine upkeep and direct customer support just as it does now.

Transmission is administered by the regional grid operator, MISO. LEPA coordinates and schedules power on Minden’s behalf, but it does not physically own or operate the transmission lines.

For the past 16 years, City of Minden has been in a 20-year contract with Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) for its electricity.

According to the State Attorney General, Louisiana Revised Statute 33:41649(B) reads:

Municipalities may obtain water or electric current under contracts extending over a maximum period of 15 yearswith private persons, on such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon by the parties. The governing authority of the municipality contracting for such water supply or electric current may bind the municipality, the greening authority and its successors in office to carry out the terms of any such contract.

At this point, Cox feels that law will back up the City’s move, and what happens with SWEPCO after this point will be dealt with as it arises..