L’Observateur / November 8, 1999

Without a doubt, one of the most troublesome, irritating, bothersome and inspirational of road-rage projects going on right now is the resurfacing of the Hale Boggs Bridge. Now, as we understand it, weekend closings willcontinue for several more months to come. Meanwhile, at rush hours, it’sbumper-to-bumper traffic both ways for several miles.

At off-hours, it remains possible to zip across at near-normal rates, if not the posted 70 mph across the Interstate 310 bridge. However, in themorning and evening rush hours, tempers flare, horns blare and drivers pull their hair.

We have a modest suggestion – ferries.

Extend hours of operation for the Reserve-Edgard ferry and re-activate the Luling-Destrehan ferry, at least on a temporary basis. This might take abit of the strain for local traffic and provide an alternative to the average crossing time on the bridge.

If at all possible, drivers should attempt to adjust their schedules so as to avoid peak traffic hours. Also, all consideration should be made to easethe passage of emergency vehicles.

Better traffic controls, with police directing the traffic lane mergers, could help make the traffic flow at a more even rate. As it stands, theinside lane is jammed, while the outside lane merges into it haphazardly.

We do urge patience among drivers who cross that bridge on a daily basis and hope for the speedy completion of this project. Unfortunately, whenthe bridge was designed with the experimental lightweight epoxy asphalt, it also made necessary the resurfacing to maintain the stability of the bridge.

Therefore, this wasn’t the first resurfacing and it won’t be the last.

Hopefully, next time, the project can be planned so as not to block up both ways at the same time.

There must be a better way.

Copyright © 1998, Wick Communications, Inc.

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