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Construction on South Hollywood Road in Houma should be finished by early next year despite workers being slowed by rain and orphaned gas lines beneath the asphalt.
Work to widen the roadway from two to four lanes is only “a little bit behind schedule,” said Robert Williams, project engineer for Providence/GSE Associates, the architectural engineering firm coordinating the project.
“We are finding some things out there that nobody really knew where they were,” Williams said. “We find a lot of lines that appear to be old, abandoned gas lines. Well, we think they’re abandoned. We’ve got a couple that we can’t seem to find anybody to claim them.”
The project is still in the phase of relocating utility services underground before beginning to pour concrete, said Jeanne Bray, capital projects administrator for Terrebonne Parish. She said the roadway should be complete by January.
Bray said the biggest obstacle so far has been moving the utilities but paving the top of the road will be “the easy part” and it will move quickly.
But last week – as has occurred in the past – rainy weather kept crews from working on the road for most of last week. Williams said that not only do workers have to wait for the rain to stop, but they also have to wait for the road to dry before completing many tasks.
Many business owners refused to discuss the matter due to litigation that arose when Terrebonne Parish officials seized tracts of land to widen the road, at what they determined to be fair market value.
Others did speak, and expressed varying levels of frustration.
Henry Richard, a local developer and owner of Richard’s Restaurant Supply at 235 S. Hollywood Road said he is currently appealing a case that he lost over the expropriation of a significant portion of his parking lot.
Despite that, he expressed recognition of a need for growth that fuels the project.
“Progress, you know, it’s a little painful right now because it’s affecting the business, but we have other access methods to be able to get in and out, so we can still function,” he said.
Kelly Pizzolato, part-owner of Something Blue Bridal at South Hollywood Road and Corporate Drive, said that although business is down because of fewer walk-in customers, business has also been good enough to keep her from laying workers off.
The project has created congestion and other traffic issues at Vandebilt Catholic High School, where parents said they are anxious for the job to be done.
One parent, Jennifer Beeson, said that despite inconvenience she has navigated well.
“Just avoid Hollywood Road,” she said.
Drivers appeared to recognize the project’s importance, and despite heavy traffic last week expressed tolerance.
“I think it’ll be wonderful once it’s completed,” said Erwin Bourgeois, as he inched through stop-and-go traffic on South Hollywood Road. But for right now, he acknowledged, “it’s a pain in the butt.”
Andrew Vanhatten sets up a pump on Thursday to dewater parts of South Hollywood Road’s shoulder. Rain and orphaned gas pipes have slowed down progress slightly, but officials say the road should be finished in January.
