Senate Bill 858 was passed into law by Governor Foster in the 1999 regular session. My interpretation of the law, in laymen’s terms is that just because a road does not comply with standards set by federal guidelines does not mean it's unreasonably dangerous. It must be proven that the failure to meet the standard requirements was the proximate cause of an accident because of it resulting in an unreasonably dangerous condition.

It is also my understanding that because of this law, that the state and/or parish, must be put on notice before they can be held liable in a court of law for property damage, injury, or death due to discrepancies that exist for that particular road.

With receipt of this letter, consider the State of Louisiana put on notice as to the unsafe conditions that exist the entire length of Airline Highway with reference to crossovers and/or turnarounds using the descriptions below.

Ø       These crossovers and/or turnarounds have insufficient area for more than one vehicle to use as two vehicles will block the visibility of oncoming traffic in both directions traveling at a high rate of speed.

Ø       The crossovers and/or turnarounds place slow moving vehicles using them into the path of oncoming vehicles traveling at high rates of speed.

Ø       I have viewed as many as four or five vehicles using the same crossover and/or turnaround at the same time placing the majority of the latter vehicles in the path of oncoming traffic traveling at a high rate of speed.

An answer to this problem would be to remove the existing crossovers and/or turnarounds and replace them with new crossovers and/or turnarounds regulated by traffic signals as is done in other states.

While I point out only one specific malady of Airline Highway for particular safety issues, be advised that there are numerous safety hazards the entire length of Airline Highway. E.g., lack of painted lines, warning signs, reflectors, guardrails, shoulders, and in my opinion, a much too high speed limit not being enforced by law enforcement. The complete extent of the hazards for Airline Highway need to be investigated by the Department of Transportation to insure that all safety hazards be found and remedied with all possible haste.

Be advised, if there is any property damage, injury, or death after the date of this notice on Airline Highway, I will do my utmost to bring this notice to the attention of those involved and their attorneys.

This letter and its attachments have been published to the web site Inside Ascension Parish at http://www.inascension.com on the “Our Roads Page”.

Chuck Le Mieux

Distribution List Name:            Our Roads

Ascension Citizen (Ascension Citizen)     citizen@eatel.net
Ascension Parish CAO (randerson@ascension.par.la.gov)
Ascension Parish Council CO (rloupe@ascension.par.la.gov)
Ascension Parish Councilman (abourque@ascension.par.la.gov)
Ascension Parish Councilman (ascpar01@eatel.net)
Ascension Parish Councilman (ascpar04@eatel.net)
Ascension Parish Councilman (ascpar05@eatel.net)
Ascension Parish Councilman (ascpar08@eatel.net)
Ascension Parish Councilman (ascpar10@eatel.net)
Ascension Parish Councilman (ascpar11@eatel.net)        
Ascension Parish Councilman (athompson@eatel.net)
Ascension Parish Councilman (savoy1@eatel.net)
Ascension Parish Executive Secretary (pcook@ascension.par.la.gov)
Ascension Parish President (HMarchand@ascension.par.la.gov)   
Ascension Parish Public Works (blittle@ascension.par.la.gov)
Ascension Parish Public Works (broux@ascension.par.la.gov)
Ascension Parish Public Works (dbabin@ascension.par.la.gov)
Ascension Parish Public Works (dmitchell@ascension.par.la.gov)
Ascension Parish Sheriff Department (abacala809@aol.com)
Braud, Jennifer (cbraud1@eatel.net)
Department of Transportation and Development (JoeyTureau@dotd.state.la.us)
Department of Transportation and Development (pallain@dotdmail.dotd.state.la.us)
Department of Transportation and Development (rcarter@dotdmail.dotd.state.la.us)
MacMillan, John (jmcmillan@theadvocate.com)    jmcmillan@theadvocate.com
Nelson, Gordon E (GordonNelson@dotdmail.state.la.us)
Representative Emma J. Devillier larep060@legis.state.la.us
Representative John Juba Diez (webreps@legis.state.la.us)
Representative Roy Quezaire Jr. (larep058@legis.state.la.us)
Senator Louis Lambert (websen@legis.state.la.us)
Troop A (Troop_A@dps.state.la.us)
Gonzales Police Dept (gonzpd@eatel.net)
Ward, Steven (sward@theadvocate.com)
WBRZ TV Channel 2 Road Patrol (jennifer@wbrz.com)
WBRZ TV News (MarvinH@WBRZ.com)
WBRZ TV News WBRZ TV News (peter@wbrz.com)
WBRZ TV News (news@wbrz.com)
Young, David (gonzwkly@eatel.net)

From: RonnieCarter@dotd.state.la.us Sent: Monday, July 28, 2003 9:54 AM To: Chuck Le Mieux Subject: Re: airline_hwy.doc

Mr. Le Mieux, I received your notice. For your further consideration, to improve the chances of your communications spurring action, the more focussed the request is (i.e., referencing a specific location, as opposed to "the entire length of Airline Highway") the better the chance is that work will be initiated by this office (and probably any office or agency). The one sure way for your complaints to not get any action is for you to make the problem so large and generic that it is virtually impossible to solve. We currently have about a hundred pending study requests right now, and I don't have the manpower to have personnel go to every median opening on Airline Hwy and see how safe it is. I know of one median opening that had several vehicles pulling into it simultaneously, and we ended up signalizing it (Airline at South Pecue).

Traffic Engineering is a lot more complex than people realize, and it often involves decisions between 3 competing parameters (traffic flow, safety, and access). Virtually any intersection location on a major arterial like Airline Hwy could be made more safe by removing the intersection - but then no one would be able to access the highway at that point. The same is true of median openings - removing any median opening would make that point of Airline Hwy more safe, but it would also create the need for more U-Turns at an adjacent median opening or intersection, which would basically just be shifting accidents from one location to another, and probably increasing the total number of accidents as well. The length of median opening is obviously controlled by the width of Airline Hwy. I can tell you with 100% certainty that Louisiana does not have enough funds to widen Airline Highway for it's full length for the sole purpose of creating more median storage, and, the addition of a traffic signal at a median opening where there is no intersecting side street would not be prudent.

The problems that you have mentioned are typical of 4-lane divided highways all around the country, and unless you would like to give me a specific location to study, I am not taking any action on this overly broad and generic request.

From: Chuck Le Mieux [clemieux@joimail.com] Sent: Monday, July 28, 2003 6:42 PM To: 'RonnieCarter@dotd.state.la.us' Subject: RE: airline_hwy.doc

Mr. Carter, Thank you for your suggestions. I will keep this in mind with further notices I send the D.O.T.D.

To be specific about this notice please take into consideration median openings from Highway 44 north to Highland Road.

If you feel that this is still too vague please let me know and I will send in an individual notice for each and every median opening that exist for that area.