La. 318 overpass work to start in early ’16

PATTERSON — Construction should begin on the La. 318 overpass in St. Mary Parish in early 2016 as work progresses to make improvements along U.S. 90, state Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin, said Monday.
The St. Mary Parish Council of Governments held its quarterly meeting Monday at the Atchafalaya at Idlewild Golf Course near Patterson.
Allain gave an update on the project to complete I-49 South from Lafayette to New Orleans. The project entails upgrading U.S. 90 to interstate quality through St. Mary Parish.
The La. 318 overpass in Four Corners is in the design stage and should see construction begin in the first quarter of 2016, Allain said. An overpass on Red Cypress Road near Patterson will probably be the next section of the I-49 South project to receive funds and be built in St. Mary Parish, Allain said.
U.S. 90 from Calumet Cut to Morgan City has the highest fatality and collision rate in the state, Allain said. Therefore, state transportation officials plan to install J-turns as a preliminary measure to cut down on the number of “T-bone” crashes in the Patterson and Berwick areas before new overpasses are built, he said.
Officials look forward to trying to finish the I-49 South project “sometime in our lifetime,” Allain said.
Also at the meeting, St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office Maj. Gary Driskell said the sheriff’s office offers many classes in schools throughout the parish. Officials teach classes concerning topics such as dating violence, sexual assault, cyberbullying, the dangers of social media, identity theft, workplace safety and also gives demonstrations of what its special response team does.
The courses are free to the public. Driskell encouraged people to attend the classes and let the sheriff’s office know if there are any additional classes they want to be taught, he said.
Port of West St. Mary Executive Director David Allain talked about the activity going on at the port. The port commission is represented by Baldwin, Franklin and surrounding unincorporated areas of the parish.
The Port of West St. Mary has four tenants at its facility, the biggest of which is Twin Brothers Marine. The company employs about 150 people, David Allain said.
Twin Brothers has recently “diversified their portfolio to do more deep water work,” David Allain said.
Tony Fuhrer of the parish sales and use tax department presented the quarterly sales tax report during the meeting.
Third quarter collections were down $1.73 million, or 14.1 percent, excluding collections made as a result of financial audits, compared to 2014’s third quarter.
The second quarter saw a 12.2 percent dip, while the first quarter had a 9.1 percent drop. The year-to-date decrease in sales collections compared to this time in 2014 was 12.8 percent.
Year-to-date collections are at $19.74 million, excluding collections from audits, down from the $22.48 million in collections during the same time period of 2014.
As of September, monthly sales and use tax collections were down for the 11th straight month compared to the prior year.