HAHNVILLE – Residents of St. Charles Parish will see roadway improvements including patching, overlaying and striping along a select group of parish streets as the 2013 Road Maintenance Program kicks into gear this fall.
Contractors will work on 36 streets in each St. Charles Parish community. They are: Barreca Street, Marino Drive, Vial Street, Pine Street, St. Charles Street, Third Street, Short Street and Clayton Street in Norco; Courthouse Lane, Elm Street, Nicholas Street, Hickory Street, Pine Street and St. Charles Place in Hahnville; Milling Avenue, St. Anthony Street, Ristroph Street, Gassen Street and Sellers Avenue, in Luling; First Street, Second Street, Third Street and Fourth Street in St. Rose; Hale Street, Robert Street, Ayo Drive and Eula Drive in Paradis; South Destrehan Drive, Park Place and Eve Street in Destrehan; Twin Bridge Road, Boras Lane and Folse Road in Des Allemands; Johnson Street in Ama; and Badeaux West Lane in Bayou Gauche.
Roads are surveyed annually and evaluated for repair based on a priority rating system. Roads get points based on nearby infrastructure, the number of dwellings they contain, access to emergency services, estimated daily traffic and existing condition. Parish Council members also have input into which roads are selected.
Many of the streets will have work completed in phases, beginning with patchwork and continuing with removing asphalt by a measurement of two inches. Repaving is the third step, with a fourth and final step being the addition of compacted limestone or dirt along the roadway shoulders to eliminate drop-off. St. Charles Parish Public Works personnel are overseeing the contract work and ask residents to be patient during construction. Any concerns may be addressed to the Public Works office at 985-783-5102.The St. Charles Parish Council on Sept. 3 awarded low-bidder Barriere Construction Co. LLC a contract in the amount of approximately $1.4 million to complete the scheduled work. GEC Inc. Consulting Engineers performed design work on the improvements, which includes the study, design and administration of the repairs, overlays and shoulder and/or curb repair. The Parish Council approved GEC to engineer the programs from 2012 through 2015.
Funding for the roadwork comes, in part, in the form of $500,000 from the state of Louisiana’s transportation fund. The amount varies by year based on the state’s allocation to Louisiana’s other 63 parishes. Remaining funds come from a parish property tax, which was set by the parish council at 5.95 mills this year.
“Our road maintenance program in particular is one of those projects in which citizens truly see their tax dollars at work,” St. Charles Parish President V.J. St. Pierre said. “Combined with the maintenance work provided by our in-house crews, this work continues to greatly improve the state of parish infrastructure.”
The St. Charles Parish Public Information Office will post daily announcements about the location and duration of roadwork to the parish website at www.stcharlesparish-la.gov, the parish Facebook page at www.facebook.com/stcharlesgov and Government Access Channel 6 on Cox Cable.