Shop owners say revenues down nearly 40% since bridge opened

Tommy Dupre considers the LA 1 Expressway near Leeville progress – costly progress.

His Tyd’s Bait and Tackle is among the small town’s businesses that have seen profits fall nearly 40 percent since the toll bridge opened in July.

Prior to the expressway opening, Dupre said Port Fourchon workers, Grand Isle residents and tourists ventured through Leeville en route to other places.

Now, patrons pass the small town by because the bridge’s access point is several yards outside of Leeville.

“The bridge is a good thing for the area,” Dupre said, “but it has screwed up the town of Leeville where the local businesses in this area depend on the influx of visitors to make a living. Now, everything is going right by us like we are not here.”

Dupre has only been a Leeville business owner for three years. However, Tyd’s Bait and Tackle has been in existence for 29 years. Locals and passersby frequent the shop for their convenience store, fueling and fishing needs.

Dupre said since the bridge opened, he has lost about 30 percent of his revenue.

Down the road at Gail’s Bait Shop, the story is much the same.

Owner Gail Serigyn has been in business for 41 years. Her Leeville shop depends on sports fishermen to stay afloat. But since the bridge opened, foot traffic has slowed significantly, taking 25 to 30 percent of her monthly revenue with it.

“The majority of the people that come in here are sports fishermen,” she said. “If they are new to the area, then they don’t know I exist. I am so thankful for my frequent customers because they have been a blessing to me.”

The LA 1 Expressway opened to traffic July 7. The four-mile, $166 million fixed-span toll bridge replaced the old Leeville bridge. The rickety drawbridge frequently broke down, backing up traffic traveling between Golden Meadow and Port Fourchon. The new expressway is the first phase of a three-part project intended to eventually elevate 19 miles of flood-prone highway.

Work on the second phase, which extends from Leeville to Port Fourchone is under way. It is expected to be complete in 2011.

Since early July, however, Ben Griffin, co-owner of Griffin’s Station and Marina, can only watch from his window as vehicles travel past his and neighboring businesses.

“The bridge has completely cut off the town of Leeville,” Ben’s brother Don Griffin said. “The area is getting a double whammy. Lafourche had the lowest unemployment rate in the nation. Now the economy is starting to hit us bad on top of what the bridge is doing.”

Griffin’s Station and Marina is a full-service fueling dock for boaters. It has a restaurant, icehouse, convenience store and a 24-hour fueling station for customers.

Since the bridge’s opening, Griffin’s sales have taken an abrupt 40 percent drop. Much of that business was generated from the Lafourche port’s welders who stopped at Griffin’s three times daily – at 9 a.m., noon and around 3 p.m. for an afternoon snack.

Now, the guys only come once a day to cut down on what they pay in toll fees.

“When you have nearly 15 welders that come to your business spending at least $10 every time they come, that money adds up,” Ben Griffin said.

Unlike many of their fellow business owners, the Griffins don’t believe the bridge is the problem. They blame the poor economic study conducted before the bridge was built.

“First the bridge’s access point should be at least a quarter of a mile into Leeville,” Ben Griffin reasoned. “That way, business owners in this area would still be getting a high influx of customers.

“Then, the economic study listed Leeville as being a place for the fishing industry,” he continued. “But it highlights attractions and places in Grand Isle and how it garners an influx of people during the summer months for vacations.

“We have a lot to offer visitors, too. The state should have really researched the economic study before they relied on it to build the bridge,” he said.

Despite the negative spike in earnings, the Griffin brothers are going to have to dig deep in their pocket in an effort to attract business. There’s talk of buying a bigger, “billboard-style” sign near the corner motorists traverse to access the location.

“We need to do something,” he said. “If not, then we are going to continue to lose business.”

Likewise, Donna Cheramie is hoping for the best. The Leeville Seafood Restaurant manager said business has been an up-and-down affair. “At moments, we are slower than usual,” she observed.

The Leeville business collective’s concerns haven’t fallen on deaf ears. To help businesses, the LA 1 Coalition and the Lafourche Parish Council are asking the state Department of Transportation and Development to erect signs to identify the establishments located off of LA 1. The sign or billboard would be situated roadside nearing the Leeville bridge turnoff.

“Additional roadway signage informing motorists that there are camping, food, gas and lodging opportunities in Leeville is the perfect way to drive more customers to the town’s merchants,” LA 1 Coalition director Henri Boulet said. The coalition is a non-profit advocacy group that sought to have the bridge built.

Boulet said relief – namely a sign – is on the way. “It is at the print shop as we speak,” he said. It should be erected by the end of October.

Lafourche Parish Councilman Daniel Lorraine, who authored the council’s resolution to the state DOTD, is frustrated the move didn’t come sooner.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “When they opened the bridge up they knew that the businesses were there. They knew that the businesses relied on the visitors that took that road to Grand Isle and Port Fourchon. Why didn’t they put a sign up there in the first place?

“We are all hurting because of the way the economy is shaping up,” Lorraine continued, “but these businesses in Leeville are really suffering and we need to do all that we can to help them out.”

Signs may provide temporary relief, but Boulet said work to improve the bridge’s traffic flow within south Lafourche is ongoing. The DOTD’s economic study never intended to exile Leeville businesses, he explained.

“The LA 1 Coalition is striving to improve the area’s entire transportation system, not just a particular part,” he said. “It just so happened that the economic study showed that the (old) Leeville bridge was the weakest link in the entire transportation system.

“(The study) was not something geared toward excluding (Leeville) business owners,” Boulet added. “We are focused on upgrading the entire transportation corridor from U.S. Highway 90 to Grand Isle.”

Another good way to attract business, Boulet and bait shop owner Serigyn suggest, is to turn the parking lot near the old bridge site into a public boat landing for fishermen. Serigyn said that would give visitors a reason to travel through the town.

“Now, people have to take a toll across the bridge to access the boat launch near Port Fourchon,” Serign said. “A lot of my customers said that they are not paying a toll just to go fishing. They will come down and get what they need, then go back into the parish to fish.”

Ben Griffin, who co-owns Griffins Station and Marina, said vehicle traffic that used to wind through Leeville is bypassing the community en route to the LA 1 bridge. * Photo by SOPHIA RUFFIN