NEWSMAKERS
January 27, 2016
Longtime Vandebilt coach passes away
January 27, 2016
Drivers will have to endure the headache of navigating S. Hollywood Road longer as weather has slowed construction along the heavily trafficked road.
The road-widening project was originally expected to end this month. But weather and relocating utilities have slowed work to a crawl, according to Joan Schexnayder, the parish’s project engineer.
As rainy weather permits, crews are replacing sewer and water lines and placing cement culverts into the ground. Schexnayder said once the underground work is complete, workers will begin smoothing out the major thoroughfare.
The South Hollywood project has been riddled with problems from the outset.
Work was slated to begin in early 2014, but was delayed when AT&T failed to move equipment from the stretch extending from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and La. Highway 311. Work didn’t actually begin until August 2014.
Not far into the project, work stalled again when construction workers were forced to trace and relocate a web of utility lines beneath the road. The tangled lines included crisscrossed phone, Internet and other utility lines.
Robert Williams, project engineer from Providence/GSE Associates, the company inspecting the project, described the tangled mess to The Times in August 2015 as a “spaghetti bowl” of wires that had to be identified and sorted.
Crews also discovered old, abandoned lines while repairing natural gas lines, further slowing work.
For those who navigate the road or work along South Hollywood, the project’s end cannot come soon enough.
Quality Hotel staffers are no strangers to the impact the roadwork has had on day-to-day travels. Mounds of dirt sit near the establishment’s entrances and cement culverts block parking spots.
“With the road construction, of course, it does pose challenges in regard to entry to the property. There have been times where we’ve only been allowed one entry. It does back up traffic on a regular basis and when it rains, it does have an impact on the hotel where flooding is evident,” the hotel’s general manager Hessie Cox said.
She remains eager to see the completed project, whenever that may be.
“We’re holding through and, hopefully, it will be restored quickly and we can resume business as normal with a beautiful new road to be able to allow traffic to pass through with more visibility to the hotel,” Cox said. “We’re looking forward to the completion.”
Schexnayder said once underground work is through, workers will add roughly 19 feet to either side of the road, creating new lanes.
“The private utilities – the cable, the phone, the electrical – that’s been relocated,” she said. “We’re almost complete with the sewer and water. Once they’re done with the drainage on one side of the road, then they can start on the concrete work.”
As to how long it will be before the road is construction-free, no one knows.
“I do not have an estimate at this time,” Schexnayder said. “Just be patient.”
Parish President Gordon Dove, however, wants answers. He told The Times a meeting is being scheduled this week uniting the project’s principal players – engineers and contractors – to discuss the delay. “I want to see what we can do as a parish to speed it up,” he said. •
Poor weather has slowed down the work, pushing back its completion. The work was supposed to be finished this month, but state officials are now asking locals to be patient.
