By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – State Department of Transportation officials said crews are finishing work this week on the latest setback keeping the Reserve/Edgard river ferry off the water in St. John the Baptist Parish.

Amber Hebert, a DOTD spokesperson, said the department is completing final repairs to the landing barges on both sides of the Mississippi River. Hebert said the pulleys and wire ropes that operate the landing mechanisms are being replaced this week She also said a crew would be laying down a new dressing of aggregate near the landing ramps.

“We are expecting to have a better outlook later this week on when the ferry may be brought back into service,” Hebert said. “This week’s repairs are the last piece of the puzzle.”

DOTD officials said in November that crews had to also make an assortment of electrical repairs on the actual boat before bringing it back to the area for use. Hebert said those repairs are complete and the DOTD is now awaiting Coast Guard approval, which is expected sometime today or Thursday.

Hebert said the DOTD had been sending a boat and full crew to the St. John site, but it has since been moved while work is being done in the disabled boat. He said that ferry has been sent to ferry landings in White Castle and Plaquemines as needed.

The electrical delay and the landing barge repairs are the latest in a long line of setbacks hindering the 17-car ferry’s return after being docked since 2007 while the Army Corps of Engineers made initial repairs to the landing site.

Upon completion of those repairs, which called for the repositioning of a utility pole off the levee’s slope, the parish was caught in a legal struggle with the Archdiocese of New Orleans over access to land near the river batture that is owned by St. John the Baptist Church in Edgard. The court battle stretched out more than a year before the church relented and allowed the parish to use the land to place the pole.

The return was delayed again when water levels in the Mississippi River prevented work on installation of the pole. The utility pole was put in place and connected to the electrical grid in May, according to Entergy.

Once the pole was back in place, transportation officials said the ferry reopening would again have to be pushed back because access roads to the east and west bank landings had to be completely resurfaced. That work began in July and wrapped up in late August.

When the ferry finally returns, hopefully sometime later this month, Hebert said the vessel will maintain the same schedule of operation, 5:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, but it is unclear whether tolls will be the same.

At the time the ferry ceased operation, round-trip tolls were $1 for cars and 25 cents for pedestrians.