La. 318 interchange plans debated

An engineering endeavor in St. Mary Parish that has caused controversy in the past is headed back to the drawing board to possibly make more alterations after a meeting Wednesday with local stakeholders at the West St. Mary Civic Center.
Parish leaders including President David Hanagriff, Senator Bret Allain and Councilman Craig Matthews joined other community members including those invested in the sugarcane business to meet with representatives from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) and contractors on Wednesday.
The subject of the meeting and the source of controversy was the proposed design of the intersection at U.S. 90 and La. 318 just west of Baldwin. The design had generated spirited dialogue in the past due to what many in the sugarcane business said were flaws in the plan. The meeting yesterday was designed to alleviate some of those concerns but there was still some doubt from members of the audience as to the viability of the plan to move forward with the project.
One of the primary concerns raised from members of the audience concerned the flow of trucks hauling loads of sugarcane. La. 318 was considered by many in the audience, including parish leaders, to be vital in transporting raw cane from the fields south of US 90 to the mills that are north of the highway.
The DOTD plan proposed setting up stop signs on La. 318 at the intersection with US 90 which would force the sugarcane trucks to stop and wait for traffic on US 90, as it currently does, to cease before they could safely cross. Several members of the audience said their trucks would “never make it”.
After nearly an hour of discussion about possible alternatives to the stop sign issue and an array of other concerns from community members, the representatives from DOTD agreed to return to their design team with the issues that were brought up and attempt to come to a compromise with the plan and design that would try to satisfy all invested parties as much as possible.
St. Mary Parish Chief Administrative Officer Henry “Bo” LaGrange said he was satisfied that the meeting had met the goals of allowing members of the community to voice their concerns with the project and clear up misunderstandings about the proposed plan and design of the intersection.
“There was a lot of misinformation and rumors floating around about what was going to happen,” LaGrange said. “So this was to clear that up and let our parish officials and legislative delegation and the farming community and local community in this area know what to expect in the next 12 months.”
LaGrange also said he was encouraged by the dialogue between the project contractors, DOTD and members of the community and that moving forward with a solution that addresses stakeholders’ concerns could be possible with further analysis from the DOTD design team.
“We have presented some issues and concerns we feel need to be reviewed and possibly changed in their traffic plan moving forward,” LaGrange said. “Especially as it relates to handling traffic during harvest. Those issues and concerns were identified today. I think DOTD sees that and the contractor understands that. They are going to go back with their traffic experts and review that and then come back to us with how they are going to address those concerns.”
Bill Oliver, DOTD District Administrator, said one his primary concerns with projects such as the intersection in question, is public safety.
“We need to go back and look at the intersections and make considerations for the cane traffic to make sure it’s safe,” Oliver said. “The designers and the traffic engineers will get back together and go back through the Traffic Management Plan and make considerations for the cane harvest based on the meeting today.”
Oliver said DOTD could have changes to discuss again with the public within a few weeks.