L’Observateur / November 22, 2000

LAPLACE – Even though this weekend’s rains were a welcome sight for mostresidents of the River Parishes, it did cause some unexpected problems formotorists along Belle Terre Boulevard in LaPlace.

Starting Sunday morning, several potholes appeared on the stretch of roadbetween Airline Highway and Fairway Drive. Motorists were forced to drivewhat became an obstacle course, and it got so bad parish workers had to putup barricades closing down one lane of the boulevard.

“It’s horrible,” said Councilman Duaine Duffy. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”Belle Terre Boulevard, or Louisiana Highway 3188, is maintained by the stateDepartment of Transportation and Development, and according to Bob Roth,regional director for the DOTD, the rain is to blame for the holes in the road.

He added the road conditions are a safety risk.

According to Roth, the asphalt overlay was saturated by all the rain and thewater got in between the road surface and the overlay and bubbled upthrough the asphalt. Cars passing over these areas literally pulled asphaltaway from the surface, causing the holes.

St. John the Baptist Parish Chief Executive Officer Chris Guidry said, “Iassume that it rained so hard the asphalt popped up when the ground gotsaturated.”The same problem occurred to a smaller degree on U.S. Highway 51 near theInterstate 10 exit ramp.

On Monday, DOTD workers were busy patching up the holes along Belle TerreBoulevard. However, this is just a temporary repair. The road was scheduledfor a major overlay next year, but recent rains have forced the DOTD tomove up the project so that it won’t happen again, according to Roth.

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