Junior A. Fabiano
April 7, 2009
Willard John Kraemer Jr.
April 9, 2009
The new high-rise bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway that will be built to replace the Houma tunnel should be located where a railroad bridge now crosses the waterway close to Bayou Black, audience members said at a meeting last week in Houma.
The state Department of Transportation and Development formally kicked off the project with the meeting, intended for Terrebonne residents to suggest a variety of sites to build the bridge and to air their views on the project.
But the railroad bridge location near the south end of Dunn Street was the only site that was brought up by audience members.
R. Gary McClure, an engineer with the Baton Rouge firm Shread-Kuyrkendall & Associates who is studying the project, acknowledged that the railroad bridge site was being considered, as did a DOTD official at the meeting. The environmental impact of the new bridge would be minimal, according to McClure.
Terrebonne officials at the meeting and audience members said they want the Houma tunnel to remain open for vehicular traffic even after the new bridge is constructed.
The tunnel, completed in 1961, is currently having 10 pumps replaced at a cost of $1.9 million and needs around $2 million worth of new lighting. McClure and the DOTD official said the tunnel experiences frequent traffic congestion.
State Sen. Reggie Dupre of Houma said the idea of replacing the tunnel has been around since the late 1990s. He said the three tunnels existing in the state – in Houma, Harvey and Belle Chasse – “are maintenance nightmares.”
Dupre wants a four-lane bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway at the railroad bridge site and to have the tunnel used for local traffic only.
“Take the commercial out of it,” he said.
The new bridge could connect to Industrial Boulevard and provide a loop for vehicles not wanting to drive through Houma.
“No urban area has grown without a loop,” he said.
Dupre suggested buying rights of way soon to build the new bridge because industrial development will cause land prices to rise in the area of the existing railroad bridge.
Terrebonne Parish Councilmen at the meeting who spoke in favor of the railroad bridge site were Johnny Pizzolatto, Clayton Voisin and Alvin Tillman.
Pizzolatto warned that the area underneath the new high-rise could become “an instant slum,” comparing it to some of the area beneath the twin spans.
Voisin said a corridor already exists in the vicinity of the railroad bridge, but the new high-rise would have to straddle an existing pipeline.
Tillman said the new bridge would take traffic away from the tunnel.
Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet also endorsed the railroad bridge site.
An audience member complained about congestion at the tunnel when car accidents occur and said the tunnel is used mostly for local traffic already, except as a route to Grand Caillou Road.
Another audience member, the former head of the East Houma Business Association, said the twin spans over the Intracoastal Waterway were located too far from development and urged that the new site for the bridge follow development more closely.
All agreed that if the tunnel were closed while the bridge is built, traffic could be unimaginably bad.
Dupre said Houma could not endure several years with the tunnel closed.
“Closing the Houma tunnel is not something we’re looking at,” McClure added.
Houma residents welcomed news that a new high-rise bridge crossing the Intracoastal Waterway is being considered, but want to see the aging Houma Intracoastal Waterway Tunnel remain open. * Photo by KEYON K. JEFF
