Major roadwork projects underway

Several major infrastructure projects are underway at this time across Evangeline Parish. In total two roads are being completely resurfaced, while preventative work is being done to another to prolong the life of the highway.
The first of these three projects was La. Hwy. 106 between La. Hwy. 13 and U.S. Hwy. 167, which began back in September. The $3 million project consist of an overlay, reconstruction, adding a base course (stable foundation), and widening of the road.
According to Bill Oliver, with Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, depending on weather the 4.5 mile stretch of road on the northern end of the parish could be complete by the end of January 2019.
Oliver said, “The temperature has to be over 50 degrees to lay asphalt, so depending on the weather this job could be complete by the end of January.”
In terms of when repairs will be made to Hwy. 106 from Hwy. 13 to La. Hwy. 10, Oliver said some work has taken place recently.
According to Oliver, asphalt has been added in some areas of the road to try to keep the road in the most decent shape until funds are available to repair Hwy. 106 through Beaver.
Oliver also shared the reason why Hwy. 106 from Hwy. 13 to Hwy. 167 was chosen to be resurfaced first was because of its need to be widened. He also shared the region his department services has a total of 2,400 miles of roadway stretching across eight parishes.
Oliver said, “With our budget we have to try to get the worst roads first, and the reason why we chose to do that portion of Hwy. 106 was because of the need there was to widen that road.”
Approximately 23 miles directly south of the Hwy. 106 project construction has begun on La. Hwy. 95 in Chataignier between La. Hwy. 104 and La. Hwy. 29.
A total of 8.8 miles of La. Hwy. 95 is being resurfaced at a cost of $5.4 million.
“We thought about doing this road for a long time,” said Oliver. “But, because of the length of roadway we had to wait until we had the money to do the whole stretch of road from Hwy. 104 to Hwy. 29.”
Repairs to Hwy. 95 is currently at 10 percent complete according to Oliver, and won’t be completed until sometime next year.
Work being done on Hwy. 95 is similar to the work being done on Hwy. 106. The project does also consist of stabilizing the base course with cement. DOTD also performed a lime treatment, which is used to upgrade poor quality clay soils to provide adequate support, where new asphalt will be laid for Hwy. 95.
The third fairly large project that recently occurred took place on La. Hwy. 1161, which is also known as Pine Point Road.
For this project, $169,000 is being spent, according to Oliver, to “lengthen the life of the roadway.”
This project consist of microsurfacing 1.25 miles of Hwy. 1161, which means a protective seal coat comprised of a thin, tough layer of asphalt emulsion blended with finely crushed stone for traction is being added to extend the life of the road.
This project was a preventative maintenance project that is now complete.