New Luling highway studied

Wait times long on heavily-congested Barton Avenue

The St. Charles Parish Council has asked for a study that will determine the feasibility of constructing a new highway in Luling to connect Highway 90 and River Road.

Barton Avenue now serves as a major connection between the two, but it runs through a residential neighborhood. The road has become heavily congested because of the lack of a signal light at the intersection of Barton and River Road, which forces commuters to wait until multi-directional traffic clears before they can turn.

“Ever since I got into office I have received tons of complaints about Barton Avenue,” Councilman Shelley Tastet, who introduced the resolution asking for the study, said. “It’s very congested and heavy trucks are even using Barton, which is not allowed.”

Tastet, who travels on the road often, said that some mornings he is stuck in traffic for 10 to 15 minutes.

“It’s bad for the people that drive on Barton to get to River Road, but it’s worse for the people who live on the street,” Tastet said. “If the traffic is heavy, some people may not even be able to back out of their driveways.”

The Union Pacific line that crosses Barton can also cause headaches.

Patricia Dufrene, who lives on Barton, said the delays are frustrating because they happen so sporadically.

“The thing is, you never know when you’re going to have to sit there for 15 or 20 minutes because the train runs at different times of the day and the wait is different every time,” she said. “I don’t face long delays all the time, but they do happen a lot.”

Tastet would like for the new highway to serve as a continuation of Willowdale Boulevard. A large percentage of the residents who use Barton Avenue live in the Willowdale/Willowridge area, Tastet said, so it would make sense to have the main entry and exit corridor of the subdivision extend all the way to River Road.

The land that an extension would have to travel through is owned by Levert Land Co. Jim Hooper, of Levert, told the council that the company would consider donating that land to St. Charles Parish, assuming the study shows that a new highway would be feasible.

Parish President V.J. St. Pierre said another possible route would be a more easterly one near the Davis Pond Diversion.

Right now, Tastet said he is not sure how much a new highway would cost. The relocation was included in previous requests to Congress, but it wasn’t eligible for federal money because it isn’t part of the state transportation plan.

The parish hopes that a study, which will be performed by Krebs, LaSalle, LeMieux Consultants, Inc. will convince the Regional Planning Commission to include the relocation in the state’s transportation plan.