DANIEL TYLER GOODEN

CONVENT – The Louisiana Highway 44 on ramp to the Sunshine bridge will be closed, as of Friday, and will remain so for about a year, said St. James Parish President Dale Hymel. The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development is restoring the bridge and will be using the access ramp. Drivers looking to cross the bridge will have to detour to Louisiana Highway 70, which crosses the bridge, by other routes. Drivers are instructed to use the northern Louisiana Highway 22 from the river road to La. 70 or the southern Louisiana Highway 3214 to Louisiana 3125 then to La. 70. Also during the Wednesday night council meeting, Keith Baronne, of the Urban Planning and Innovations Co. of Kenner, presented their final draft of St. James Parish’s land use survey. Baronne presented a map of the parish with its land marked as residential, business, wet land and not in use. The map was built from both satellite and aerial photographs. “This is the first step for a master plan of zoning.” so we can control the direction of growth in St. James Parish, said Hymel. Hymel pointed out that the increased use of La. 3125 would have made it ideal for businesses, but much of the fronting property had been bought for residential development. Down the road. Louisiana Highway 3127 will be the same and a master zoning plan would help the parish best direct growth for the benefit of both businesses and residents of St. James Parish.