The city of Jennings will be home to a new and improved Airport Road and an extended Zigler Memorial Drive over the next year.
Jennings Mayor Henry Guinn said this project is designed to increase economic development for the community and attract more consumers to the area.
"Our hope is to expand the scope and the availability of real estate for new businesses to locate to," Guinn said.
Guin said The Airport Commission, The Department of Transportation and several businesses along the Highway 26 corridor are collaborating to make this happen.
"The road project will open up about 13 to 14 usable acres that are owned by The Airport Commission and we'll be able to lease it out for long-term rentals," Guinn said.
Zachary Herbert said he's a Jennings native, who travels on Airport Road frequently.
He said he believes the construction is long overdue for several roads throughout the community.
"The roads around the whole town are bad," Herbert said. "I understand that they wider roads for commercial business, especially for big trucks."
Herbert said he thinks Airport Road needs to be expanded, significantly.
"You got eight-foot-wide lanes and eight-foot-wide trucks, there ain't no room for error," Herbert said.
The Mayor said DOTD is gathering data for a traffic impact analysis. Once the analysis is complete, a draft of the data will be created, a bidding process is expected to take place and construction will be scheduled for 2025.
