What is the status of Opelousas city improvement projects? Expect some delays.

Several capital outlay projects inside the City of Opelousas are moving forward, but others have been delayed by a variety of issues that include ongoing state-level COVID issues, a city engineer has indicated.

City engineer William Jarrell III told the Opelousas Board of Aldermen at a meeting last week that progress for some municipal projects has been slowed by staffing matters at the state’s Department of Environmental Quality and a railroad company who has not acted promptly on approving a right-of-way for a water system project.

“There have been several delays for projects due to labor issues with COVID at the DEQ offices. Workers there (at the DEQ) have not come back to work. At one time there were 10 people in the (DEQ) permitting office. There is one worker now doing that type of work,” Jarrell said.

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Right of way permitting issues

A $500,000 water system project continues to be halted due to what Jarrell says has been inaction by Union Pacific Railroad officials in granting a permit for the city to proceed with installation.

Jarrell estimated that it has taken Union Pacific at least two years to respond to a request by city engineers to obtain permission to proceed with the water system project that intrudes on property owned by the railroad.

“There are five railroad crossings in which the water system project is involved. Four of them are maintained by Acadiana Railway and another by Union Pacific,” Jarrell said. “The one right-of-way permission that we need permission for is on Waillor Street, but we can’t get confirmation by the company. I think we have been trying to get that for two years.”

Sewer system repairs

Jarrell told the board the city has applied for $25 million in DEQ funding eligibility that will assist in mitigating ongoing state sewer system compliance problems.

If approved the DEQ grant will help Opelousas in complying with the issues that have been raised by state officials, said Jarrell.

Jarrell added however that engineers have begun working on replacing several non-functioning sewer pumps.

Also Jarrell said that progress on implementing a $2 million water meter replacement project citywide, has also been delayed since the project has be to re-advertised for companies wanting to provide meter installation.

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Bridge issues

Jarrell noted in his infrastructure update that the bridge spanning a tributary canal on Heather Drive needs repairs, but at this point he thinks the bridge does not have to be closed.

The last state inspection on the bridge Jarrell said, detected a structural issue on one section of the bridge that will eventually need to be repaired, Jarrell said.

“Repairs are needed on the bulkhead of the bridge, but the inspection showed that right now there are no repairs that will be needed on the pilings. I don’t feel that the bridge needs to be closed today,” Jarrell said.

The Heather Drive Bridge manages a high volume of traffic in the south area of the city between Interstates 49 and 10.

Opelousas Mayor Julius Alsandor told the board there are several bridges inside the city that state inspectors have determined contain various deficiencies.

The city, Alsandor said, does not currently have enough revenue to repair all the bridges.

“We know that we have bridges that contain deficiencies. The state will tell us when we need to close bridges that need to be closed,” said Alsandor.

Street repairs

Jarrell added that city-wide street repairs that include repaving and reconstructing several roadways inside the five election districts are proceeding.

Asphalt on the Market Street project has begun, while several contractors are starting similar projects in other parts of the city, Jarrell said.

“Right now the projects on the streets are what I would call ongoing,” said Jarrell.

Handling criticisms of project progress

Alderman Marvin Richard said public criticism that city officials haven’t been doing enough to battle the infrastructure problems is unfair.

Jarrell said that during his 40 years as city engineer, every city administration has “done something” to improve infrastructure and launch capital outlay projects.

“I would say the last time the city has done something like this (for streets) was during the Anna Simmons administration,” Jarrell said.

Simmons was elected mayor of Opelousas in 2002. Her administration lasted one term.

This article originally appeared on Opelousas Daily World: Opelousas city improvement projects delayed by COVID, other issues