ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / March 22, 2000

RESERVE – Businesses on River Road in Reserve are not happy about the re- paving project.

“Everybody here is taking a whipping,” said Thui Benson, who runs the In and Out Store at 1407 River Road. “My business has been cut in half.”He is not alone. Ever since Barriere Construction Co., under the supervisionof the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, began to re-pave River Road between Central Avenue in Reserve and Mt. Airy, thesituation has been a mess.

After Barriere took the pavement off the road it left motorists a surface that was so rough it made people wonder if their shock absorbers would ever survive one trip down River Road. Barriere then laid down a bed ofwhite lime dust that seemed to cover everything except the road bed.

After the huge rain last weekend the road turned into a quagmire of mud mixed with lime and rock. There were so many breakdowns and peoplegetting stuck, that Parish President Nickie Monica shut down River Road for the weekend.

“I had to close it down because of all the complaints,” said Monica. “Truckswere creating huge ruts, and cars were getting stuck.””Someone in the parish should stand up for us,” said an angry Benson. “Whothe hell is responsible for this screw up?” Benson isn’t alone in his anger.

Further down the road at Carlos’ Thrift Shop, co-owner Iris Palermo shook her head. “It’s been horrible,” she said. “It’s cut business down to nothing.The construction stopped it entirely.”Not only has the construction affected business, but the dust and lime left by the construction company is getting into everything.

“I have to dust everything all the time,” said Palermo.

The day construction workers laid down the lime was the worst for Palermo.

“The reason it was so dusty was because they said that their water truck had broke down. But they still put down the lime,” said an incredulousPalermo.

She said the Terminex man couldn’t even begin to get under the shop because of all the lime dust in the air.

Carlos Palermo said it has affected the air conditioning in his thrift shop and in Connie’s Grill next door, which is owned by his daughter.

“I have to clean the air conditioning filters every day,” said a disgusted Carlos. “It got so bad that my daughter had to close up her store for a day.”The same complaints are being heard down the road at Holmes’ Food Mart No.10. The manager, who didn’t want to be identified, said her business hasplummeted.

“Business is at a halt,” she said, pointing to the empty parking lot. “And allthe dust is affecting our sinuses, clogging the air conditioner. I can’t evenget it cold in here.”The manager slapped the counter. “It’s hurt business a lot, and they aredragging their feet.”What really irks business owners in Reserve is that Barriere has started re-paving the road down by Mt. Airy instead of in Reserve.”They should have started on Central Avenue and not Garyville or Mt. Airy,”said Benson, “There are no businesses down there.”Iris Palermo summed it up. “I was born and raised in this area, and in 75years I’ve never seen a road project like this.”

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