Heavy rains slow traffic work along S. Hollywood

It’s no secret that commuting from one end of South Hollywood Road to the other has been difficult throughout its widening process.

Add in the heavy rains the Bayou Region experienced for the first time since construction began in late August, and slow-moving, bumper-to-bumper traffic got worse.

Reports of pooling and puddling on the road made their way to The Times newsdesk.

But the good news for motorists is that the potential for high water conditions should be a temporary concern.

David Jenks of Providence Engineering who serves as a consultant to Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government on the project told The Times that the installation of subsurface draining has already begun on the south end of South Hollywood Road, and it should be completed in about two months.

The subsurface drainage consists of large culverts, which has been and will be installed under the road. The four-lane road will be built in a very large trench, and water will drop under South Hollywood through a grate. The culvert will then send water to the Bayou Lacarpe system– where it will be sent to a retention pond and can be pumped out.

The pipes will replace the previous system of ditches which lined both sides of the two-lane South Hollywood Road. Both Jenks and TPCG Capital Projects Administrator Jeanne Bray said the new system will allow for more efficient and better draining,

“What that’s going to do is far exceed what the ditch could carry before,” Jenks said.

Therefore, the project’s contractor, Conti, has installed temporary drainage pipes. The pipes are not as efficient as the ditches used to be and certainly not as efficient as the future system.

“It’s going to be one of those things we’ve got to live with for a little while and then the drainage will be much better,” Bray said.

In the mean time, officials urge motorists to use common sense and avoid South Hollywood Road unless if the destination is one of the businesses along the road – all of which remain open during construction.

“During heavy rains or even just during the construction of the project, just be very careful, be very aware and take it very slowly through the traffic zone,” Bray said. “The contractor is doing his best to construct a new roadway at the same time traffic is on the roadway. It’s a difficult project but he’s doing the best he can, and if we as the travelling public can do the best we can, then we’ll get a win-win situation.”

The project is scheduled for 490 days – a clock which began ticking in late August. That gives the contractor until late February, 2016 to finish the project.

Jenks said it is slightly behind schedule, but should finish by the end date of its contract. He attributed the delay to difficulty in installing a sewer system into a hardwired road.