Residents along a select group of parish streets will see roadway improvements including patching, overlaying and striping as the 2012 Road Maintenance Program kicks into high gear.

Contractors will work on 34 streets across St. Charles Parish this season.

Roadways that have enjoyed overlay work so far include Lowe Street in Hahnville, Fourth Street in Norco and Amelia Street in Ama.

“Our road maintenance program in particular is one of those projects in which citizens truly see their tax dollars at work,” St. Charles Parish President V.J. St. Pierre said. “Combined with the maintenance work provided by our in-house crews, this work continues to greatly improve the state of parish infrastructure.”

Many of the streets will have work completed in phases, beginning with patchwork and continuing with milling (removing asphalt) by a measurement of two inches. Repaving is the third step, with a fourth and final step being the addition and spreading of dirt along the roadway shoulders to eliminate drop-off. St. Charles Parish Public Works personnel are overseeing the contract work and ask residents to be patient during construction. Any concerns may be addressed to the Public Works office at 985-783-5102.

The St. Charles Parish Council in August awarded low-bidder Barriere Construction Co. LLC a contract in the amount of approximately $1.5 million to complete the scheduled work. GEC Inc. Consulting Engineers performed design work on the improvements, which includes the study, design and administration of the repairs, overlays and shoulder and/or curb repair. The Parish Council approved GEC to engineer the programs from 2012 through 2015.

Funding for the roadwork comes, in part, in the form of approximately $500,000 from the state of Louisiana’s transportation fund. The amount varies by year based on the state’s allocation to Louisiana’s other 63 parishes. Remaining funds come from a parish property tax, which was set by the parish council at 5.94 mills this year.

According to St. Charles Parish Senior Public Works Engineer Lee Zeringue, roads are surveyed annually and evaluated for repair based on a priority rating system. Roads get points based on nearby infrastructure, the number of dwellings they contain, access to emergency services, estimated daily traffic and existing condition.

The St. Charles Parish Public Information Office posts daily announcements about the location and duration of roadwork in the parish to the parish website at www.st charlesparish-la.gov, the parish Facebook page at www.facebook.com/stcharlesgov and Government Access Channel 6 on Cox Cable.