By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

CONVENT – Assorted stretches of 15 streets across St. James Parish are getting a facelift as part of an annual parishwide road improvement program.

St. James Parish President Dale Hymel said the parish council approved more than $800,000 for repair and overlay on the streets, which are situated throughout the communities of Paulina and Vacherie.

Hymel said at the beginning of each year, parish public works crews conduct a review of every street in the parish to rate them on the level of deterioration. He said the streets are divided into four categories based on the level of work that needs to be done.

Hymel said the work crews look at traffic congestion, street flooding and other problems that may cause damage when analyzing parish streets.

“Each street is assigned a number from one to four, with one being the streets in most need of attention,” Hymel said. “Every year we try to secure the funding needed to at least complete work on all of the priority one streets. If money is left over, we move on to the twos, and so on.”

Hymel said once the work is complete, streets are reassessed for the next year to determine where damage has escalated.

Hymel said this year’s work is set to begin by the end of July.

Streets that will receive work include Boudreaux Street, J. Martin Street, Noon Street, North Louque Street and Brignac Street in District 3; Big Boy Street, Communi Street, Pierre No. 2 Street and West Arbeed Street in District 5; Chestnut Lane, Lemon Street, Orange Street, Leon Street, Pine Street and Acorn Street in District 7.