The latest plans for a bypass to route truck traffic around the downtown square lacks sufficient detail to be considered, St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars contends.
Such proposals have been made for many years, and a convincing case for a bypass can certainly be made. Besides the difficulty and traffic obstruction resulting from 18-wheelers being forced to negotiate the sharp corners of the historic area, recurring damage has been caused to protected historical downtown structures.
The currently-proposed 4.4 mile alternate truck route is reduced in scope from past efforts. But it would still be extremely costly, Cedars said, even though the parish would probably be responsible for only 20 percent of the construction cost.
“It is not clear this should be a St. Martin Parish endeavor in the first place,” he said, “There are too many unanswered questions. We have no economic impact statement and not enough specificity. The proposal is premature.” Cedars added that just obtaining the right-of-way agreements required would be very costly and would have to be secured entirely at parish expense.
This latest scaled-back proposal would likely involve new road construction as well as upgrading existing roads. It would route trucks around the square by diverting them from LA 96/Terrace Hwy, on Capritto-Forty Arpent Rd., across Cypress Island Hwy. and to LA 31/Main Hwy. at Levert Rd. near the Martin Mills building.
Construction of a bypass has been a long-sought remedy to a long-standing problem, but presents its own set of costly issues and should not be expected to happen anytime soon.
