LAFAYETTE — The intersection of Kaliste Saloom Road and LA 733 (E. Broussard Road) will be closed, beginning Monday at 9:00 a.m., until Monday, March 9, weather permitting. Drivers will not be allowed to enter or exit Kaliste Saloom Road at this intersection. This is part of the widening project first started in 2019.
People living in the area are ready for the decade long construction to end.
"I'm very ready for everything to be over," Alex Fontenot, who lives off of Kaliste Saloom, said on Friday.
"It was really easy to get in and out of everywhere, we're right next door to all the stores and everything we need to get to," Fontenot said.
For the last several years, construction has been causing him to use new routes.
"They started putting up all the cones and it's gotten a lot worse," he added.
Now Fontenot uses E. Broussard to go to class at UL. With the intersection closing for the next five weeks, he says he'll have to get up earlier.
"Unless I want to try to go down Ambassador, which isn't my favorite thing to do in the morning, or lunch, or anytime at all," Fontenot said.
Public Works Civil Engineer Mark Lavergne says a main priority for the project was not to close down Kaliste Saloom, that's why they'll be opening the newly constructed 4 lane bridge. Today workers painted stripes for the alternate route.
"Rather than close the road, we're simply shifting traffic over more to the east," Lavergne said.
For Fontenot, that's good news.
"As long as I can take a right right there, and get out it'll be great," Fontenot said.
While both roads will remain open, drivers should expect traffic delays and are encouraged to take an alternative route for the next one to two months until the intersection of Kaliste Saloom and E. Broussard is reopened.
DOTD appreciates your patience and is reminding the public to drive with caution and be on the lookout for work crews and their equipment.
