ST. MARTIN PARISH – Boon Lasseigne Road near LA 347 in St. Martin Parish is a two-way dirt road that has become a headache for residents who live off of it.
The road is currently closed to through traffic because of the large divots and potholes created from rainstorms, which have turned it from driveable to barely walkable.
“They don’t understand how to maintain the road,” says Juliette Poirier, who’s lived off of Boon Lasseigne for more than 40 years.
Poirier says the St. Martin Parish Council hasn’t done enough to fix the road that her husband has to drive on to get to work in Broussard each day. Since the road’s closure, her husband has been forced to take a much longer route to work, and Poirier doesn’t understand why a permanent solution to fix the road once and for all can’t be found.
“We may not be doing what everybody wants us to do, but we’re doing what is reasonable and what comports with our budget,” says St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars.
Cedars says the road has been repaired multiple time since he took office 10 months ago and more than 70 times since 2010, but according to Cedars, whose responsibility it is to maintain the road is questionable.
“Well, that’s an interesting question because none of the parish records, based on my personal review and records, reflect that it’s ever been formerly dedicated to St. Martin Parish government. There are no written documents to that effect,” Cedar said.
So while the parish is funding maintenance efforts to provide upkeep on the road, residents like Poirier and her husband will have to take the long way home.
