Earline Hebert Adams
December 4, 2006
Houma woman nabbed with crack cocaine
December 6, 2006
Construction work and traffic have been inching along Main Street and Park Avenue the past couple months and construction continues into December with mixed responses from business owners.
Work began the week of Oct. 25 in downtown Houma, with a contract price of $3.98 million, and has progressed west, repairing major rutting that gave drivers a bumpy ride and impeded drainage.
The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development workers were initially expecting finish the work by the end of the year, according to Alan Weber, project manager. He now projects a mid-January completion date.
The project extends 5.4 miles on Main Street, and another 5.4 miles on Park Avenue. Workers are removing two inches of old asphalt from the road and replacing it with two inches of new gravel and asphalt, Weber said. The improvements are intended to keep water from collecting on the road, which will make driving safer, he noted.
Crews with Barriere Construction Co., based in New Orleans, are doing the work. The operation extends from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., weather-permitting.
The project extends from Main Street and Park Avenue between New Orleans Boulevard and Coteau Road. The “moving operation” goes street by street making repairs, and leaving a trail of traffic in its wake.
Some Main Street business owners are upset about the ill-timed project.
“This [construction] has been a big sore spot in our lives,” said Annette Hodges, floor manager in charge of sales at Landmark Home Furnishing, located at 6667 W. Park Ave.
She claims that construction has prevented people from accessing the store during the day because traffic is being diverted to Martin Luther King Boulevard and the consistent traffic backup of traffic during the week causes customers to think twice before making a shopping trip.
“They picked the busiest time of year to do this,” said Hodges. “Any other year traffic is bumper-to-bumper with people heading to the mall. Now all shoppers are being diverted and it’s really screwed it up for us.”
Customers have been shopping later in the evening, when most get off of work and have more time to make the drive, or on the weekends.
“I was surprised when they continued working into Saturday evenings. Now Sundays have become like Saturdays because no one wants to fight the traffic,” Hodges said.
While Landmark is hurting from construction, Wright Floor Covering, located on 6622 W. Park Ave., has welcomed the roadwork.
Owner Doc Wright has been at his current location and has rented along West Park Avenue for 15 years. He can attest to the deterioration of the roadway.
“This will not only be beneficial for business but for the whole parish,” he said. “Sure it’s not making it [business] pleasant but it needed to be done.”
Hodges thought that perhaps with extra time spent planning and the amount of available shoulder space, needed turning lanes or a third lane could have been added to ease everyday congestion.
“I don’t think they thought it through,” she said.
Weber said with cooperative whether, the crews have kept on track, with the only hold up being the Bayou Gardens intersection, which needs extensive drainage work, replacing curbs and gutters.
Crews can only work on this area on Sundays because the intersection needs to be completely shutdown, and Weber said Sunday yields lower amounts of traffic than the workweek.
“We will also be raising the Bayou Gardens intersection so it doesn’t flood,” he said.
