Bridge repairs take toll on Sheriff’s Office
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MATHEWS — With the Larose Bridge repaired and reopened, work under way on the Lockport Bridge is creating traffic congestion and straining the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office budget, Chief Deputy Bud Dill said.
The traffic nightmare has moved north to Mathews, and the repairs may take as long as 30 days to complete, Dill said in a news release Wednesday.
“We know the delays are frustrating, and we are trying to do all that we can to assist in speeding up the process,” Sheriff Craig Webre said. “It is amazing what one road closure can do to a community in regards to hindering normal traffic flow; please bear with us.”
Webre has assigned deputies to traffic-control duties at the Belleview and Champagne-Harrelson bridges in an effort to assist with the flow of morning and afternoon traffic.
Also, state troopers are working at the Fontinelli Street entrance to La. 308.
Since Monday was a holiday for many, the traffic delays were unnoticed until Tuesday morning and afternoon.
A Wednesday morning wreck at La. 308 and the Champagne-Harrelson Bridge further aggravated the problem, Dill said.
Webre said that since the state is not funding overtime for law enforcement officers in connection with the bridge repair projects, he expects his office will have to swallow about $25,000 in added expense due to the Lockport closure after incurring overtime costs of nearly $16,000 because of the Larose closure.
He said requests to the state for extra funding were denied.
The traffic nightmare has moved north to Mathews, and the repairs may take as long as 30 days to complete, Dill said in a news release Wednesday.
“We know the delays are frustrating, and we are trying to do all that we can to assist in speeding up the process,” Sheriff Craig Webre said. “It is amazing what one road closure can do to a community in regards to hindering normal traffic flow; please bear with us.”
Webre has assigned deputies to traffic-control duties at the Belleview and Champagne-Harrelson bridges in an effort to assist with the flow of morning and afternoon traffic.
Also, state troopers are working at the Fontinelli Street entrance to La. 308.
Since Monday was a holiday for many, the traffic delays were unnoticed until Tuesday morning and afternoon.
A Wednesday morning wreck at La. 308 and the Champagne-Harrelson Bridge further aggravated the problem, Dill said.
Webre said that since the state is not funding overtime for law enforcement officers in connection with the bridge repair projects, he expects his office will have to swallow about $25,000 in added expense due to the Lockport closure after incurring overtime costs of nearly $16,000 because of the Larose closure.
He said requests to the state for extra funding were denied.
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