Policy jury eyes Crew Lake Loop

The Richland Parish Police Jury heard complaints about Crew Lake Loop Monday night.

Chris Collingsworth told jurors the road has a variety of problems, ranging from surface damage to poor draining. Most importantly he said, when entering the loop at night, it was difficult to see where the road actually was.

“That ditch is steep,” he said. “I’ve seen cars go off the road because you can’t see the road at night.”

He asked the jury to look into placing guard rails and reflectors to help people turning onto the road a way to see where the ditch began.

He also asked jurors if they could look into doing something about drainage along the road way, noting that the water runs uphill to the main drainage ditch along LA Hwy 80. The result is that standing water remained in the ditches.

“I’m asking you to try to get some kind of downhill drainage to get the snakes and mosquitoes out of there,” Collingsworth said.

Police juror Elliot Colvin said he was aware of the problem and the police jury would try to help. The parish had recently purchased equipment which would let them shoot grades to determine the best way to fix drainage. He added the road would be a priority in the parish capital outlay plan.

“We do have a road plan ... we are working on the process of approving a new capital outlay plan ... and that road should be pretty high on the list,” Colvin said.

Colvin said he hoped work to improve the road could begin next year.

Beverly Weeks, who also lives in the area, asked if the police jury could do something about a four-wheeler repair business located next to her property.

“The conditions that I and my neighbors must put up with is unbelievable,” Weeks said. “I want to know what can be done. I have to listen to the roar of four-wheelers seven days a week.”

She said the owner had put up a partial fence but wasn’t keeping the debris and four-wheeler parts behind it.

Colvin said he had spoken to the owner of the repair shop and the man had told him he’d try to clean up the area. He added the police jury could follow up and see what was being done.

In other business, the police jury accepted a bid from Amethyst Construction of West Monroe for $1,798,620.20 to begin the repair of several roads damaged by Debury Offshore during pipeline work.

This is the same contractor who is already doing work on WPA and Burke roads, so engineer Ken McManus said he was hopeful the work would all go quickly.