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A six-month lighting system change in the Houma Intracoastal Waterway Tunnel will mark a major upgrade to the vehicular traffic channel and mean extended overnight closures while work is taking place.
Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Houma area engineer Gary Gisclair speculated that a project of this nature takes place only once every 20 years at the most.
“I don’t know when they were last changed,” Gisclair said. “This is a total refurbishing. It is to replace the existing lighting system, which is in poor condition.”
The project began Monday and will continue through Aug. 31. This means the tunnel will be closed to vehicular traffic Monday through Thursday nights from 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. Alternative routes will include the La. Highway 24 Twin Span Bridge and La. Highway 315 Dularge Bridge during the hours of construction.
“That is good that they are updating the lights,” Houma Police Chief Todd Duplantis said. “I would ask motorists to be cautious because it is going to cause congestion on the overpasses. Just exercise caution and be a little more patient and courteous. Hopefully, after the lights are repaired we will have better lighting in the tunnel.”
Duplantis said although there are occasional wrecks in the tunnel, due mostly to inattention and speeding, there have not been any to his knowledge that were light related.
The price tag for lighting renovation, according to Gisclair, is $918,700. The job contractor is Wye Electric of West Monroe.
Other Terrebonne Parish roadway projects taking place at various intervals during the timeline of the tunnel lighting renovations include $1.4 million in asphalt overlays for La. Highway 24, La. Highway 55 and La. Highway 659.
No start date has been announced for reconditioning the Boudreaux Canal Bridge at a cost of $262,139. Traffic signal upgrades have begun along La. Highway 24 and will continue through February 2013 at a cost of $1.4 million.
Work on the $26.9 million Bayou Terrebonne Bridge project, at Prospect Boulevard and La. Highway 24, along with approaches, widening and asphalt overlay will continue into May, and the St. Ann Bridge that connects Country Drive to La. Highway 24 in Bourg is currently being replaced for $4.4 million with a targeted completion date of March 2013.
Morning traffic flows as normal even with overnight lighting replacement work taking place inside the Houma Intracoastal Canal Tunnel. The renovation project is expected to continue through August.
