PRAIRIEVILLE - A solution may be on the way for an ongoing problem in Ascension Parish. Roundabouts will likely be installed along a busy highway.

On Thursday night, the Acension Parish Council will vote on taking over Highway 930 from the state. Right now, the highway is plagued with congestion, cracks, and potholes.

“Sometimes when I'm driving down the road, I have to stop my vehicle just to let someone pass,” said Tracie O’Bannon, who lives near the area.

“We've had a fatality on this road, and quite frankly, we've just had enough,” added Councilman Aaron Lawler.

DOTD has plans to fix the road, but Lawler says that’s taking too long.

“We could wait another decade on this,” said Lawler.

So, he has a different solution. Lawler wants to see two roundabouts, one at Highway 930 and Cousey Road, and another up the street on Henry Road. That stretch is owned by the state, so in order to put in the additions in, the parish would need to take over the road.

The Parish says, there are some perks to that. The state has already purchased the right of way to widen and straighten the road, and would give that, which amounts to $3.8 million, to the parish, along with $4.8 million over three years.

The Parish would then have to put up $5 million to build the roundabouts, and any maintenance work in the future.

“Certainly, we're going to have to keep up with it, but the realty is we've done things the same way for 40 years, and we have bad roads across the parish and we have traffic problems,” said Lawler. “We're getting a great deal here, and this doesn't happen very often.”

But some have a fear that the roundabouts could make things worse.

“I've seen how they did the one in Walker, and they've had problems with that. So no, I think the four way stop would be more efficient,” said a woman driving at the intersection of Henry and Highway 930.

Lawler's response, “give it time,” he said. “We have to be willing to try something new.”

The resolution only needs to be voted on once. So if the Parish approves of it on Thursday, it'll move forward.