By MOLLY DRYMAN

Staff Reporter

RESERVE — An eight-mile construction project on US 61 will continue to cause long delays throughout the summer and into fall.

Project Engineer Danny Smith said the project is for drainage improvements, shoulder widening and overlaying, costing $4.1 million, improving the roadway along US 61 from East St. John High School in Reserve to the St. James Parish line. costing $4.1 million.

“We are on schedule,” Smith said. “We are finishing up the underground work and the drainage improvements should be finished around mid-August, maybe before. After that is done we can start the paving and overlaying operations.”

The project started last September, but came to a four-month halt during sugar cane hauling season, which runs from the beginning of October to the end of January, according to District Construction Engineer Stephen Perilloux.

“We started back up in February,” Smith said. “Depending on the weather, the project should be finished in mid-November, but we hope to beat that.”

Alternate routes are Interstate 10 and River Road. There are restrictions for the area for oversize loads and tractor-trailers.