By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Essential repairs to the Country Club Drive bridge in LaPlace will cause major detours for residents living in the Belle Terre neighborhood.

The bridge just south of Carmel Valley Drive will close for the next four months, starting Monday, said St. John the Baptist Parish spokesperson Paige Braud.

This means a quarter-mile stretch of Country Club Drive between the bridge and Fairway Drive will dead-end at the canal.

Braud said the wooden pilings on the 35-year-old bridge have deteriorated, making the bridge dangerous for traffic. She said the current bridge will be totally replaced.

“The bottom of the canal will be cemented, and the bridge will be installed with concrete pilings instead of wood,” Braud said.

The project is expected to last about 120 days. The work will be done by Gray Construction at a cost of about $324,000. Braud said funding for the project will come from the $29.5 million bond issue that was voted on in 2009.

“We have no other choice but to repair the bridge,” Parish President Natalie Robottom told the St. John Council Tuesday. “It is a unique project because of the nature of the road, but if there was a better way we would have found it already.”

The road consists of one long stretch with no side streets or turnaround areas. Robottom said the parish has had to arrange for alternate routes for school buses that pick up children on the street. She said those students will now be picked up on Fairway Drive, where Country Club Drive becomes Ridgefield Drive.

Robottom said the closure will not affect garbage collection on the street, but it will change the way trucks come down the street. Since there is no place for large trucks to turn around, Robottom said the garbage trucks will back all the way down the street to the canal and pick up coming back up the street.

“The procedure is actually routine for garbage trucks that pick up on streets like this,” said Councilman Cheryl Millet, who represents the area. “They won’t go on private property, and there is no where for them to turn around.”

Millet said the parish is being proactive with the project in an effort to prevent a more dangerous situation for residents.

She said the street is heavily traveled, and the bridge has experienced a fair share of wear and tear in 35 years.

“We are just asking that residents of the area be patient with us while we get this done,” Millet said. “I wish we didn’t have to do it, but it really needs to get done for the safety of the residents.”

Braud said residents living in the neighborhood that commute to Jefferson, Orleans or even Baton Rouge, will face detours during the project.

Braud said the parish is urging residents who live north of the bridge in Live Oak Landing and River Oaks to take St. Andrews Boulevard rather than Carmel Valley to minimize traffic on that street.