Terrebonne Parish on deadline to spend $117.4 million grant, $3 million on Main Street
Terrebonne Parish is on a deadline to spend $3 million on Main Street, a key part of the downtown Houma revitalization plan.
Back in 2022, efforts were made to convert part of Main Street, between Polk Street and Grand Caillou Road, and part of Polk Avenue into single-lane roads. Two years later, two proponents of the change no longer hold their offices, but one official has continued the fight.
The road is owned by the state, meaning the parish is limited in what it can do. That hasn't stopped Terrebonne Parish Planning and Zoning Director Christopher Pulaski from taking a three-pronged approach.
"When you consider that one of the projects that is currently in review for (Community Development Block Grant) disaster recovery money is the Main Street corridor streetscape improvements, I mean that money has to be spent by July 31, 2028, so you know we can't wait for DOTD," Pulaski said. "You know that's four years."
The Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery money is $117.4 million spread across multiple projects, which can be viewed here: https://tpcg.org/recovery/
Main Street is owned by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, which has an obligation to ensure large trucks have a safe and speedy route through the city, DOTD Public Information Officer Daniel Gitlin said. Proponents of downtown development and revitalization say these large trucks cause foot traffic to be less safe, and dissuade would-be shoppers from the area.
The three pronged approach
The Parish has three avenues to get the changes it seeks, Pulaski said, all of which are being pursued: gain ownership of the road, have DOTD officially authorize an alternate truck route and/or get DOTD to approve changes that the Parish can then enact itself.
Transferring the road to Terrebonne Parish is not likely to come soon, as there's about a four year backlog on transfers, according to DOTD District Engineer Administrator Scott Boyle. This is because DOTD has to update a road to nearly brand-new condition before it can hand over a road to a local government.
In 2022 then-Rep. Tanner Magee, then-Parish President Gordy Dove, and current Rep. Jerome Zeringue had a plan to make this happen.
The state, however, requires an alternate route for 18-wheelers and other trucks. Magee and Zeringue talked to members of DOTD about a potential swap. Some of these routes included Coteau Road to LA 182, or Coteau Road to Prospect.
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Authorizing an alternate truck route, however, requires a traffic study. Magee and Zeringue passed legislation, H.B. 560, that funded the study, $500,000 according to Boyle. He said DOTD is in the early stages of negotiating the price and details with a contractor.
"This is a involved process," Boyle said. "you know, "A study of this sort could take quite a bit of time, and then a road transfer would take time. There's a lot of moving parts, and we're in the early stages of something like this."
The study would determine if and where a suitable alternate route would be located. This has to do with congestion, wear and tear on structures and the safety of those living near the potential new route.
"What impact is that going to have on the roads, bridges, and communities that live on that's going to have to support this extra traffic?," Boyle said. "This is mainly going to be traffic counts and field observations, so somebody is going to go out there and physically just note with traffic, you know, what it looks like now. What does it look like now on Main Street at 5 p.m.?"
While these two methods will take time, Terrebonne Parish's Planning and Zoning Department is not sitting idly by. Pulaski said there's other ways to alter the road that aren't reliant on action by the state.
"Ultimately, what we would like to do is change the streetscape on Main Street to be more pedestrian friendly and safer," Pulaski said, referring to crosswalks and trees. "Those things we can do whether the truck route is there or not, we can do whether DOTD has control of it or if it's a local road. It doesn't matter."
This final approach is for the parish to seek approval to alter the road itself. This, according to Pulaski, would be funded with the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery money, $117.4 million. The parish already has received preliminary approval from the Office of Community Development for the money and has been asked to provide a more detailed plan by Nov. 30. According to Pulaski, this will be turned in ahead of time.
If the road transfer were the carrot, the crosswalks and other safety methods are the stick. These safety mechanisms will slow the trucks down. If approved for the disaster recovery money, the parish has just four years to spend it, by July 31, 2028.
"Even if the road transfer was never even a part of it, even if we weren't interested in that, the plans would still be submitted," Pulaski said. "That's what I'm getting at. We're not going to wait for the road transfer to be complete before submitting these plans. We're not going to wait for an alternate truck route to be finalized before submitting these plans. We can at least get the plans drawn up, submitted and permitted."
This article originally appeared on The Courier: Terrebonne on deadline to spend $117.4 million, $3 million on Main Street
