Northshore commuters not happy about Causeway Bridge project

[brownpelican]

Gotta love whining suburban commuters...

Causeway, Corps of Engineers officials raise the ire of northshore commuters
Times-Picayune Staff

Officials from the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway and the Army Corps of Engineers got an earful Tuesday night from a room packed with northshore commuters upset about expected delays on the bridge during the construction of a floodwall along the Jefferson Parish shore.

The 150 people at the meeting, nearly all of whom said they commute across the Causeway during the peak hours of 7-9 a.m., expressed anger and frustration at the plans, which are expected to increase commute times by at least 16 minutes and could lead to gridlock from Sixth Street in Metairie onto the bridge.

"Two years of inconvenience is too much to ask," said Mark Albritton, who said he takes the Causeway to work every day.

About 500 feet of the bridge will have to be raised to accommodate the new floodwall, which is designed to connect the levees on either side of the bridge as part of the south shore's protections against a storm that has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year, a so-called 100-year storm. Hurricane Katrina, which did not cause significant flooding under the Causeway, is considered a 400-year storm.

To accommodate the construction work, the Corps plans to first build two new lanes in the median at the southern end of the bridge, Project Engineer Rebecca Constance said. Workers will then build new approaches, and traffic will be routed back on to those, she said.

The Corps will bid the $20 million to $40 million project by the end of the month, and construction work is expected to begin by the fall. The portions of the project that will result in longer commutes will begin after Thanksgiving, Constance said.

The project should take about two years to complete, although some of that time will be spent on aspects that are not expected inconvenience commuters, she said.

Residents spoke with officials for about an hour and a half at Tuesday's meeting, raising a long list of concerns about how the project would impact their efforts to get to work on time. Some also expressed anger that north-shore residents would bear the brunt of the inconvenience and that Jefferson Parish officials were not working to reroute traffic away from the area to help ease the problem.

"If get caught on the Causeway, I can lose my job," said Stacy Dumaine of Madisonville, a teacher. "I'm not the only one. What is this going to do to all these other people?"

The key problem for commuters will come at the Sixth Street intersection, where southbound vehicles on Causeway Boulevard will be restricted to two lanes and traffic is expected to back up at the traffic light. Currently, Causeway Boulevard is four lanes wide at the light, allowing more motorists to get off the bridge as they wait for the signal to change.

While several residents asked that Jefferson Parish get rid of the light, Mark Drewes, director of the parish's Engineering Department, said it could not because of those who work in nearby office complexes.

About 275 commuters head to those complexes every morning, and 3,000 people travel across the bridge during rush hour.

To minimize delays, Causeway officials talked Jefferson Parish traffic engineers into extending the amount of time the light at Sixth Street will be green from about 80 seconds to about 180 seconds.

Officials initially estimated the project could cause delays of up to half an hour for north-shore commuters, although altering the Sixth Street light could cut that in half. Drewes said his workers will be at the scene during the first weeks of the project to monitor how the changes are working and make adjustments if necessary.

No significant delays are expected for those traveling across the bridge outside of the morning rush hour, Causeway General Manager Carlton Dufrechou said. Engineers also do not expect delays for those traveling north on the bridge, since Causeway Boulevard already merges from four lanes down to two.

Bridge officials do expect that many commuters will take alternative routes to avoid the construction, easing congestion on the Causeway and likely costing the agency about $450,000 in lost tolls.

"We're here tonight; we're telling you everything we know," Dufrechou said. "We're going to do the best we can to make this as pleasant and safe as we can."

Jeff Adelson can be reached at jadelson@timespicayune.com or 985.645.2852.

[UptownRoadGeek]

Typical.
Gotta love the comments from Southshore residents though. Especially comments like this "Let's see...protect us from flooding or inconvenience the northshore commuters? I say blow the bridge and then build the floodwall."

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

They do remember what happened on August 28, 2005? I mean its the reason for this construction. Then again, maybe they all would like to pay higher insurance premiums (knowing that they will never be able to collect if another "Katrina" would occur.  )

[Scott5114]

Especially considering the fact that Katrina is a 400-year storm, and this is protecting against a 100-year storm...doesn't that mean that the storm that this barrier would prevent would be 4 times as likely as another Katrina? That's the way I'm understanding the article's explanation...

And if you could lose your job by being late, why don't you, I don't know, leave earlier? And most places of employment are not that hardass about you being late every once in a while. If you're late due to the construction once or twice they'll probably be forgiving. (If not, you probably don't want to work there anyway!) Hell, at my job you have to have 3 verbal and 3 written counselings before you can be fired...and they don't automatically counsel you every time you're late. I've been late twice (overslept) and the most I got was my supervisor teasing me about staying out late with wild women So if you're in a position where being late once results in your termination, it's something that you got yourself into, Ms. Dumaine.

[UptownRoadGeek]

They do remember what happened on August 28, 2005? I mean its the reason for this construction. Then again, maybe they all would like to pay higher insurance premiums (knowing that they will never be able to collect if another "Katrina" would occur.  )

The people who are complaining live outside of of the floodwalls and have nowhere near as much potential for flooding, nor do they face the higher insurance. Many of them couldn't care less about what happens over here.