By MOLLY DRYMAN

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE — The River Parishes along with Ascension Parish are putting together a plan to widen LA 3127 to help the evacuation process during emergency situations.

St. John Parish Councilman Lester Rainey Jr. said the plan is to construct a &#8220West Bank Expressway” that is similar to the one in New Orleans which connects the GNO Bridge to Algiers, Gretna and Marrero.

&#8220LA 3127 begins in Boutte in St. Charles Parish as a four-lane road, said Rainey, &#8220but then turns into a two-lane road in St. John Parish, and stays a two-lane road into St. James Parish.”

Rainey said the goal was to create a four-lane road to extend on the south sides of all three parishes, and into Ascension Parish.

&#8220All four parishes have put forth $15,000 towards the feasibility study of widening this road,” Rainey said. &#8220The land surrounding the two-lane areas already belong to the State, but have never been used.”

Another project in the works is creating a &#8220true expressway” in Donaldsonville at Hwy 70 to Port Allen.

&#8220Instead of stopping the four-lane road at Donaldsonville, we figured why not bypass Donaldsonville on the south side and continue to Port Allen,” Rainey said. &#8220This way it makes it easier for many of the residents to get out if they need to.”

The feasibility study ran at a cost of $59,000, but the total cost for widening LA 3127 and creating a new expressway has not been determined, according to Rainey.