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DOTD road work causing headaches for Gonzales subdivision

5 years 7 months 1 day ago Friday, August 17 2018 Aug 17, 2018 August 17, 2018 7:00 PM August 17, 2018 in News
Source: WBRZ

GONZALES - Since it started back in July 2017, a road construction project on LA 431 in Gonzales has caused nothing but problems for the Lone Oak subdivision, and they've been complaining about it for months.

“I've gotten in touch with them several times about not being able to grab traction there, about trying to put some gravel down, or just repaving it,” said Cory Ranallo.

Ranallo even filed suit after his wife's car was damaged in the driveway back in October.

“When she turned in off the road, her car actually bottomed out and it cracked her front bumper,” he said.

He says the contractor, Coastal Bridge Co., simply shifted the blame.

“They phrased it as they had done the repairs to the state's standards,” continued Ranallo.

Not only has the mess of a driveway caused problems for cars coming in and out of the neighborhood, but it has also caused problems for students trying to get to school. According to Ranallo, the school bus will no longer pick up his middle school daughter because of it.

“The assistant principal said they are no longer able to come down here because it's unsafe for the bus,” said Ranallo. “They're worried the bus might get stuck or have issues pulling out into traffic."

According to DOTD, the project is to improve the highway's drive ability, making the curve in the road less sharp. But the people who live here say drainage is now a worry, because the project is making it worst.

“It's going to back up, and since my houses is lower than the roads and lower than the catch basins,” long-time resident Billy Reeves said. “I mean water seeks its own level... So of course its going to go further back, and it's going to affect me. It's going to affect my neighbors,” he continued.

"We understand the residents' concerns with the length of the project and are working with the contractor, Coastal Bridge Co., To try to complete this project as soon as possible. Also, we are working with coastal bridge to rectify the situation at the entrance to the subdivision," DOTD said in a statement.

We reached out to Coastal Bridge to find out what is taking the project so long to make major progress, and we got very little response. One employee there said, “as far as we know, there is no story to be run.”

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