By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – If ridership numbers are any indication, the St. John the Baptist Parish ferry between Reserve and Edgard was certainly missed by residents on both sides of the Mississippi River.

Figures released Thursday by the state Department of Transportation and Development show that between Jan. 17 and Feb. 15, the ferry averaged 529 vehicles a day. Amber Hebert, a spokesperson for DOTD, said the vehicle average is comparable to averages from before the ferry was shut down for maintenance and other issues back in 2007.

“The previous averages were around the 500 mark, but not quite as high as what we have now,” Hebert said. “This is a good sign for the future of the ferry in that area.”

The figures become more positive when they are broken up month by month. Hebert said for the month of January, vehicle ridership averaged at 473 per day. In February, the average figure jumped up to 583 vehicles per day, which is well above any average from before, Hebert said.

Capt. Juan Olivares, who regularly mans the wheel of the ferry on trips back and forth across the river, said the vehicle averages don’t tell the whole story. Olivares said in addition to being regularly full of vehicles, the ferry also has a fair share of pedestrian riders.

“There are often 10 to 15 people riding as pedestrians at any given time,” Olivares said. “One afternoon this past week, when the courthouse was holding a pair of jury trials, the ferry carried 30 pedestrians.”

Olivares also said the figures don’t include vehicles that have to get left behind on the landing for lack of space on the ferry.

“There are some points during the day when anywhere from seven to 10 cars are left behind,” Olivares said. “Occasionally they will wait, but sometimes they just end up going around to the bridge. It shows you how many people depend on the ferry for transportation.”

The 17-car ferry was docked in 2007 while the Army Corps of Engineers made repairs to the levees and landing sites. Upon completion of those repairs, which called for the repositioning of a utility pole off the levee’s slope, the parish was caught in a legal struggle with the Archdiocese of New Orleans over access to land near the river batture that is owned by St. John the Baptist Church in Edgard.

The court battle stretched out more than a year before the church relented and allowed the parish to use the land to place the pole. The ferry also survived a shortage of crew members as well as an attempt to completely cut service due to state budget constraints.

The ferry’s shutdown produced a 35- to 40-minute detour to the Veterans Memorial Bridge between Gramercy and Wallace for any parish residents wishing to cross the river to either side.