From: JoeyTureau@dotd.la.gov
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 10:09 AM
To: Chuck Le Mieux
Subject: Re: Patch work on Hwy 74 in Ascension Parish

The actual construction hasn't even started, but should start either this weekend or next. Please be patient.

MessageFrom: Chuck Le Mieux [clemieux@inascension.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 9:35 AM
To: Debbie Willis (yankeecajuns@cox.net); (rbabin134@eatel.net); Rene Washington; Charles Becnel Planning Dept (cbecnel@apgov.us); Lance Brock; Lavern Bourgeois Planning Dept (lbourgeois@apgov.us); Todd Lambert (tlambert@apgov.us); Adrian Thompson (athompson@apgov.us); Council District 4 (cfontenot@apgov.us); Council District 5 (dlambert@apgov.us); Council District 6 (jsavoy@apgov.us); Doug Hillensbeck (dhillensbeck@apgov.us); George Valentine (gvalentine@apgov.us); Jared Beiriger (jbeiriger@apgov.us); Kent Schexnaydre (kschexnaydre@apgov.us); Martin McConnell (mmcconnell@apgov.us); Ronnie Hughes (rhughes@apgov.us); Tommy Martinez (tmartinez@sjbgroup.com); (Chris@chrisloar.net); (larry2007@eatel.net); Benny Johnson (mail@bennyjohnson.org); Brad Walker (brad@infiniedge.com); Eddie Lambert eddie@eddielambert.com; 'Tom Landry'; 'Chad Vosburg '; 'Collins Landry'; 'Joey Tureau'; 'Mark Kelley '; 'Mike Procell '; 'Mike Schutzman '; 'Ronald Carter '; 'Ronnie Robinson'; 'Roy Schmidt'; Bob Turner; 'Johnny Richardson'; 'Bill Roux'; 'C J Gaudin'; '.'; '.'; '.'; '.'; '.'; '.'; '.'; '.'; ';'; ';'; ';'; ';'; 'Rep Roy J. Quezaire, Jr.'; 'Rep Karen Gaudet St. Germain'; Managing Editor Advocate (credman@theadvocate.com); Advocate Metro Desk (fkalmbach@theadvocate.com); Advocate River Parish (jmcmillan@theadvocate.com); Advocate rmiller@theadvocate.com (rmiller@theadvocate.com); Gonzales Weekly (citizen@eatel.net); Ron Sigler Planning Dept (rsigler@apgov.us); Captain Mark Porrier; Ascension Sheriff; Captain Leland Anderson; Randy Osborne; WVLA Programming (suzanne.marva@nbc33tv.com); Erin Cofiell; Rahsha Goodman Holmes; WVLA Community Relations (elaine.harrison@nbc33tv.com); WVLA Production (vincent.lagattuta@nbc33tv.com); Vicki Zimmerman; Allen Tumey; Avery Davidson; Donna Britt; George Sells; Jeanne Burns; Jim Shannon; Julie Baxter; Kellee Hennessy; Marie Centanni; Matt Williams; Paul Gates; Whitney Vann ; Andrea Clesi; Chris Nakamoto (cnakamoto@WBRZ.com); Claire Hatty; John Pastorek; Michael Marsh; Sylvia Weatherspoon; Todd Ross (todd@wbrz.com); Tony Jones; Veronica Mosgrove
Subject: FW: A possible solution to some of our parish roads


-----Original Message-----
From: Chuck Le Mieux [mailto:clemieux@inascension.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 9:32 AM
To: 'Bob Turner, P.E.'
Subject: RE: A possible solution to some of our parish roads

To: All

I know it isn't feasible for all roads and there are state codes to keep in mind. But there is an inexpensive solution for some of our parish roads where it will work. That is to replace drainage ditches with culverts and catch basins. This would give another 15 feet of area on both sides for widening and sidewalks. Not to mention saving money for the DPW who wouldn't have to maintain the ditches any more.

I'd like feedback from the parish president, council, those running for office, and anyone else who has ideas on this matter.

Chuck Le Mieux
clemieux@inascension.com
http://www.inascension.com
225-677-8670

From: Councilwoman Cheryl Fontenot [mailto:cfontenot@apgov.us]
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2007 9:50 PM
To: Bob Turner, P.E.
Cc: 'Chuck Le Mieux'
Subject: FW: A possible solution to some of our parish roads



Bob, Is this feasible? Sections of Swamp Road, Tiggy Duplessis and Duplessis desparately need some shoulders. This sounds like a good solution. If not, why not? Thanks Cheryl

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Turner, P.E. [mailto:bturner@apgov.us]
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 9:01 AM
To: Councilwoman Cheryl Fontenot
Cc: Chuck Le Mieux
Subject: RE: A possible solution to some of our parish roads

Councilwoman Fontenot:

That certainly sounds good but actually it costs a lot of money to do. For example the cost to add culverts to the ditch will cost ( by contract) about $75 to $100 per linear foot for each side of the road. Then you need inlets or junction boxes to connect the pipes and pick up the drainage which cost about $2,500 each. Once you have that you will need to construct the additional pavement width which will cost about $5.00 per square foot plus $2.50 for shoulders, then you need to overlay the existing pavement at a cost of about $3.00 per square foot. As you can see the cost for doing this gets expensive very quickly. As a example if we were to do just 100 feet of road the cost could be ( 2 sides X $75/ LF X 100 feet + $2,500 X 4 inlets+ $5.00 X 2 feet of pavement widening X 2 sides X 100 feet + $2.50 / SF. X 6 foot wide shoulders X 100 feet long X 2 sides + $3.00 SF X 100 feet X 22 feet wide existing pavement ) $36,600 or about $1,932,480 per mile. This is assuming that the widening doesn’t cause the need for additional right of way.

I wish that we had the funds to do these type projects but at this time, we can only do limited improvements to most of our roads with our current funding levels.

Bob Turner
Director of Public Works

From: Chuck Le Mieux [mailto:clemieux@inascension.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 9:31 AM
To: Bob Turner, P.E.
Cc: Councilwoman Cheryl Fontenot
Subject: RE: A possible solution to some of our parish roads

What would be the cost of widening a road by taking land instead of culverts?

Also an estimation of the time it would take to get the land by eminent domain?

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Turner, P.E. [mailto:bturner@apgov.us]
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 10:29 AM
To: Chuck Le Mieux
Cc: Councilwoman Cheryl Fontenot
Subject: RE: A possible solution to some of our parish roads

The cost to take land along a road varies greatly depending upon how close any house is to the road. If the house is within 20 feet of the new right of way line then we have to pay for proximity damage to the home in addition to the value of the land taken. Generally, the cost of the land is about $25,000 for each property ( this may vary a lot) assuming that we take only about 6 feet of land and do not affect the home. It also takes quite a bit of time to acquire the land even by eminent domain. We have to survey the property, develop right of way maps, do two appraisals and a review appraisal ( if there is damage to the home)( this cost is about $3,000 to $5,000 per property) then we make the offer and allow 30 days or so for the property owner to decide to accept or not. It is my experience that this process usually takes a minimum of 6 months –however, we have had projects that have taken several years to get the necessary right of way. Most residents do not want a open ditch closer to their home so they resist that option.

Bob Turner
Director Of Public Works

To: Bob Turner
Ascension DPW

Mr. Turner,
Using your rough calculations for widening parish roads I come up with the following using my road as an example.
Depen St is approximately 4/10 of a mile and has 34 houses its entire length.
Using your rough calculations for culvert comes to $772,992.

Using eminent domain the cost of taking the land again using your rough calculations comes to $952,000. This is just eminent domain to take the property. Who knows how long it will take. You may have to factor in attorneys fees for some of the properties and may never get them at all. Not to mention we haven't got to the cost of the contract itself.

I'm sure there would be other expenses for both ways, but again I believe that culvert would still be less expensive and much quicker. Also this is not a cure all for every road in the parish but only where it would work taking into account future sewage and drainage projects.

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Turner, P.E. [mailto:bturner@apgov.us]
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 8:20 AM
Subject: RE: A possible solution to some of our parish roads

Mr. Le Mieux,

Your conclusions appear to be correct. Each road is a separate case and the best most economical solution may be different for different roads. One of the things that we haven’t considered is that a drainage system under the widened pavement will need inlets along the toe of the slope in order to pick up the drainage from the yards.

The bottom line is that any project to widen our Parish roads will be costly and will take time. In my opinion, our greatest needs are to increase the traffic capacity of the State roads within the Parish. All of our traffic must access the State roads in order to travel throughout the Parish. The State roads are very narrow and of limited capacity especially at intersections.

Thanks for your concern and thoughts on how we might improve the Parish roads.

Bob Turner
Director of Public Works

Mr. Turner,

I do not agree with your opinion, "In my opinion, our greatest needs are to increase the traffic capacity of the State roads within the Parish. All of our traffic must access the State roads in order to travel throughout the Parish. The State roads are very narrow and of limited capacity especially at intersections.", and nether would you if had lost a 17 year old daughter on a parish road needing the kind upgrades we've been discussing.

The state has no money and neither does the federal government so where do you think we can get the funds you are woefully hoping for?

MessageFrom: Bob Turner, P.E. [bturner@apgov.us]
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 4:23 PM
To: Chuck Le Mieux
Subject: RE: A possible solution to some of our parish roads

Chuck, since acquisition of right of way costs vary so much, I can’t give you a better breakdown other than what I have set out below. You are right that a closed culvert system is less routine maintenance but cleaning out the culverts as needed becomes time consuming and is fairly costly –when it is required.

Again the main issue is the total cost of the road.

Bob Turner
Director of Public Works

From: Ronnie Hughes [rhughes@apgov.us]
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2007 8:28 AM
To: Chuck LeMieux
Subject: FW: Notice West Orice Roth Rd & So Veterans Blvd

MessageFrom: Chuck Le Mieux [clemieux@inascension.com]
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2007 11:43 AM
To: Debbie Willis (yankeecajuns@cox.net); (larry2007@eatel.net); Tommy Martinez (tmartinez@sjbgroup.com); Managing Editor Advocate (credman@theadvocate.com); Advocate Metro Desk (fkalmbach@theadvocate.com); Advocate River Parish (jmcmillan@theadvocate.com); Advocate rmiller@theadvocate.com (rmiller@theadvocate.com); (rbabin134@eatel.net); Rene Washington; Charles Becnel; Lance Brock; Lavern Bourgeois ; Todd Lambert (tlambert@apgov.us); Adrian Thompson (athompson@apgov.us); Council District 4 (cfontenot@apgov.us); Council District 5 (dlambert@apgov.us); Council District 6 (jsavoy@apgov.us); Doug Hillensbeck (dhillensbeck@apgov.us); George Valentine (gvalentine@apgov.us); Jared Beiriger (jbeiriger@apgov.us); Kent Schexnaydre (kschexnaydre@apgov.us); Martin McConnell (mmcconnell@apgov.us); Ronnie Hughes (rhughes@apgov.us); Eddie Lambert eddie@eddielambert.com; 'Tom Landry'; 'Chad Vosburg '; 'Collins Landry'; 'Joey Tureau'; 'Mark Kelley '; 'Mike Procell '; 'Mike Schutzman '; 'Ronald Carter '; 'Ronnie Robinson'; 'Roy Schmidt'; 'Johnny Richardson'; 'Bill Roux'; 'C J Gaudin'; '.'; '.'; '.'; '.'; '.'; '.'; '.'; '.'; '.'; ';'; ';'; ';'; ';'; 'Rep Roy J. Quezaire, Jr.'; 'Rep Karen Gaudet St. Germain'; Gonzales Weekly (citizen@eatel.net); Captain Mark Porrier; Ascension Sheriff; Captain Leland Anderson; WVLA Programming (suzanne.marva@nbc33tv.com); Erin Cofiell; Rahsha Goodman Holmes; WVLA Community Relations (elaine.harrison@nbc33tv.com); WVLA Production (vincent.lagattuta@nbc33tv.com); Vicki Zimmerman; Allen Tumey; Avery Davidson; Donna Britt; George Sells; Jeanne Burns; Jim Shannon; Julie Baxter; Kellee Hennessy; Marie Centanni; Matt Williams; Paul Gates; Whitney Vann ; Andrea Clesi; Chris Nakamoto (cnakamoto@WBRZ.com); Claire Hatty; John Pastorek; Michael Marsh; Sylvia Weatherspoon; Todd Ross (todd@wbrz.com); Tony Jones; Veronica Mosgrove
Subject: Notice West Orice Roth Rd & So Veterans Blvd

Mr. Hughes,

Senate Bill 858 was passed into law by Governor Foster in the 1999 regular session. My interpretation of the act, 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 sate and/or parish, must be put on notice before they can be held liable for property damage, injury, or death due to discrepancies that exist for that particular road in a court of law.

That is the intent of this letter and or email. Consider the Parish of Ascension and / or State of Louisiana put on notice as to the unsafe conditions existing at the intersection of West Orice Roth Road and South Veterans Blvd in Ascension Parish as described below.

The intersection could very well be the cause of an accident due to the vegetation growing on both sides of West Orice Roth Road. Vehicles coming from Highway 30 on South Veterans Blvd are completely blind from vehicles coming in both directions of West Orice Roth Road.

While this letter and/or email points out particular areas of the road, be advised that there are numerous safety hazards the entire length of West Orice Roth Road due to the same problem.

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

Chuck Le Mieux
clemieux@inascension.com
http://www.inascension.com
225-677-8670

To all concerned,
Consider this email notice that Highway 933 is an unsafe road.

Mr. Ronnie Hughes
Ascension Parish President
208 East Railroad Av
Gonzales, La. 70737

Re: Notice of unsafe road conditions existing at Hwy 933, Gonzales

Dear Sir:

It is my understanding that because of laws signed into effect by the governor, that the state and/or parish must be put on notice before they can be held liable for property damage, injury, or death due to safety discrepancies for a particular road.

That is the intent of this letter. Consider the Parish of Ascension put on notice as to the unsafe conditions existing on Highway 933 in Gonzales using description attached.

While I do not point out particular areas of the road, be advised that there are numerous safety hazards the entire length of Highway 933.

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

-----Original Message-----

Subject: Report an unsafe road

To Whom It May Concern,

I would like to report Highway 933 as an unsafe road. My truck was shaken / jolted into the oncoming lane this morning as I passed through a curve in the highway. This curve has the same potholes and patchwork that are found along the entire stretch of Hwy 933. There was a car in the other lane that had to slam on their brakes in order to avoid a collision. This was definitely a near miss!! I am genuinely concerned that an inexperienced driver or someone not familiar with this horrible road will end up in a ditch or even dead!

I looked over the list of roads in Ascension Parish to be improved and Hwy 933 is not even on it. There are roads on the list that need to extend turning lanes or add a third lane. These are primarily issues of convenience. Let's get people to work and home again alive and injury free and then turn the focus on speed and convenience.

Thanks and Regards,

Jeff M. Savoie