The Webster Parish Police Jury is halting its road priority list to free up money to make repairs, such as Dorcheat Road, following the massive flooding. Bruce Franklin/Press-Herald
Public Works Director Teddy Holloway suggested halting the priority list because there are so many roads that need repair.
“We’ve been out assessing our roads and right now we’ve covered a small portion of them from Cotton Valley to Dixie Inn,” he said during a special meeting Tuesday. “We’ve found 16 places in the roads that have either washed out or eroded that will have to be repaired, and from I-20 north to Ward 2, we have found 20 places where those have been washed out or eroded that will need to be repaired. We’ve got two roads that dead end where people are trapped in.”
Washouts are the major issues, but potholes are popping up everywhere, Holloway said.
“We have started patching some of these potholes, but we’re going to be behind,” he said. “There’s no way we can get them all in a day.”
With two small crews, Holloway estimates it could be the end of summer before all repairs are made.
Bridges are another concern, and engineer Brad Graf, with Cothren, Graf, Smoak Engineering in Shreveport, says he will assess all the bridges.
“One thing we’re always concerned about when there’s a major event like this is the damage caused by any drift that accumulates on the upstream side of the substructure,” he said. “A lot of times, before you can even assess the damage that’s been done, you have to get all debris out so that you can get to all the pylons and make sure there’s no displacement at the bottom of the pylons.”
Currently, all the bridges have been checked off, and Holloway has seen no issues that would make them dangerous to pass over.
They will also be keeping up with the roads that have been under water for several days as they could receive federal assistance for those roads, Graf said.
“There’s a lot of places that we’re not looking at until FEMA looks at them,” Holloway said.