Extension eases traffic

Terrebonne Parish just added a road that will ease congestion and provide additional flood protection for Houma’s east side.

Parish and state officials met near the Woodlawn Ranch pump station on Friday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Thompson Road Extension, 2.7 mile-long road connecting La. Highways 56 and 57. The extension, which provides another road connecting Bayous Little Caillou and Grand Caillou, is built on top of an 8 ft. high levee.

The project was the work of two separate phases, with CB&I working as the engineer and Southern Dredging serving as the levee’s contractor. T. Baker Smith handled engineering on the road, while Barriere Construction handled the construction work of the road. According to Terrebonne Parish President Gordon Dove, the entire project cost $18.2 million, with about $9.5 million from Terrebonne Parish, $5.6 million from state capital outlay money and $2.9 million from a Community Development Block Grant.

Dove said the original idea for the road was floated around more than 20 years ago, but the parish had to wait a while to attain the money for it. Dove credited past parish presidents Barry Bonvillain, Don Schwab and Michel Claudet, as well as other past representatives and council members, for getting the process and construction started on Thompson, which allowed it to come to fruition during his administration.

“This thing started a long time ago,” Dove said.

Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District Executive Director Reggie Dupre said momentum for the Thompson extension came in the wake of Hurricane Ike in 2008. During that storm, Woodlawn Ranch Road, a southern border for the Houma-Terrebonne Airport, was covered in three feet of water. According to Dupre, the airport had to be shut down for three days due to flooding from tidal water for the first time in history.

The Thompson Extension’s levee will put another buffer between southern waters and the airport. The levee is part of the parish’s “redundant” levee system, a 40-mile system of smaller levees inside the larger Morganza-to-the-Gulf levee system protecting Terrebonne. The Thompson levee should provide additional protection from Lake Boudreaux flooding and is the last link connecting Little Caillou and Grand Caillou in the redundant system.