Public meeting will be held on project Dec. 17
The state wants to make changes to Highway 90 through Paradis similar to those recently proposed—and subsequently cancelled—for Boutte.
Unlike the previous plans, however, the Department of Transportation and Development will hold a public meeting Dec. 17 to gather community input.
According to Councilman Paul Hogan, the state wants to add a raised median and turn lanes on Highway 90 through Paradis.The last time the state proposed adding raised medians to Highway 90, District 7 Councilwoman Julia Fisher-Perrier said she and other officials had to convince the state to amend those plans through a series of private meetings with the DOTD.
“I think this [public] meeting is a huge step in our communication and relationship with [DOTD],” Fisher-Perrier said.
Hogan said he has the same concerns for this project as were raised by Fisher-Perrier and other community members when the state proposed turning the middle lane into a raised median between Walmart and Paul Maillard Road.
Instead of a raised median, Hogan would like to see a middle lane in Paradis similar to the one in Boutte that currently allows motorists to merge into traffic and turn into businesses.
Currently, the portion of Highway 90 running through Paradis does not have any turning lanes. Motorists must stop in the middle of traffic in order to turn left off the highway.
Although she agrees flat medians are a better option, Fisher-Perrier said she’s not sure the same argument can be made in Paradis that was made in Boutte. She noted that around Paradis, many of the business are businesses of “destination”—that is, businesses that people plan to go to.
“If someone is planning to go somewhere, they are going to go even if it’s a little less convenient to get there,” she said.
Bambi Hall, public information officer for the DOTD, said raised medians with controlled turn lanes reduce the number of “conflict points.” She said in fifth lanes, such as the one that exists in Boutte, drivers come from all directions. Hogan, however, said he wants to see hard data that supports that claim before he changes his mind.
“You’re saying it’s safer for me to turn right, cut across two lanes, and then get over into the median to make a U-turn to get into traffic again?” Hogan said. “There’s no way that’s safer.”
Fisher-Perrier said DOTD stressed that raised medians and more control was the trend.
“Well we don’t necessarily need to think of a trend, we need to make it work for our residents and our businesses,” she said.
In spite of the opposition to the proposal, both Fisher-Perrier and Hogan agree that changes to the median-less section in Paradis are long overdue.
“We have been requesting that for 30 or 40 years,” Hogan said.
Though the meeting is scheduled to also discuss median changes “between the St. Charles/Jefferson Parish line,” officials with the DOTD as well as Fisher-Perrier said these changes represent a small portion of the overall Highway 90 projects being presented to the public at the meeting.
The public meeting on the Paradis project is scheduled from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Dec. 17 at the Edward A. Dufresne Community Center, located on 274 Judge Edward Dufresne Parkway in Luling.
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