Board wants new road built
Published 12:00 am Sunday, April 4, 2004
By SUE ELLEN ROSS – Staff Reporter
RESERVE – A resolution to construct a new road that will link Airline Highway (LA 61) and River Road (LA 44) in St. John Parish was approved by the St. John Parish School Board at its April 1 meeting.
The street would connect by running perpendicular, near the East St. John Elementary School, in an area that now poses safety concerns.
The link would provide faster access to the school, nearby Joe Keller Stadium, and River Parishes Hospital.
Current traffic conditions in the affected area are inconvenient, as well as unsafe, according to the resolution.
The only entrance/exit is through the Belle Pointe South Subdivision to Keller Stadium and the school campus.
Students on the south side of the school have to cross Airline Highway twice to reach the school. Also, activities at Keller Stadium result in a radically increased traffic flow.
“Congestion in this area is getting so hectic,” said Superintendent Mike Coburn. “This new road will help us in many ways – with safety factors and transportation, to name a few.”
He cited problems with buses getting in and out, and the need for a smoother traffic flow for other vehicles.
The resolution ends with the statement, ‘A road is needed to access LA 44 (River Road,) which would provide an emergency/alternate route to Airline Highway and LA 44 for the safety of all citizens of St. John the Baptist Parish.’
Coburn said the next step is to submit the resolution, along with a similar one that the St. John Parish Council is currently developing, to state representative Bobby Fauchaux. In turn, he will present it to the state legislature.
The reason for two resolutions is to prove to the state that both the school system and the local government of St. John Parish deem it necessary to build the road, according to Coburn.
There is no set time that the school system and/or the St. John Council will receive feedback once the resolutions are at the state legislature. The estimated cost of construction ranges from $750,000 to $1.5 million, he added.
