The $12 million Anse Broussard Highway construction is underway and the safety of the highway itself is a concern for one St. Martin Parish resident.
The resident, who asked not to be identified, has been seeing car crashes happen on her property for decades.
She said she currently witnesses one to two car crashes a week.
“I could probably put cars together on the parts that they in my property,” the Breaux Bridge native said.
Her 80-acre property where her horses roam freely is situated across from Family Dollar Tree on Anse Broussard Highway.
“Anse Broussard does not have a stop sign,” she said.
“Poche Bridge Road does," she said.
"But they feel like they can kinda just jump out on the gap, and a lot of times people are passing someone trying to make a right turn into Poche so they’re coming into the left lane of the traffic. Meanwhile, the vehicle taking a right from Poche and the car coming from Cecilia collide."
As I sat with her on the porch, I witnessed at least ten vehicles blowing past the stop sign.
She said she’s excited to have new smoother roads along the highway, but a larger problem is being overlooked.
“The problems we are gonna have is multiple traffic violations with the corner of Anse Broussard and Poche Bridge,” she said.
“Having no light, no caution light, no traffic light to slow the traffic down, we have multiple wrecks here every month.”
After a vehicle crash she will file a report to get either her fence or mailbox replaced. Over the years she said she’s had to replace hundreds of mailboxes.
“How do you file a report to save an animals life? that’s in their property?” the resident asked.
She said she has taken multiple steps in trying to make this corner safer, and the problem lies with her property being out of city limits.
She said her next steps are starting a petition.
“I’m sure my neighbors would agree with me and feel the same way that something has to be done,” she said.
According to the DOTD, the construction is anticipated to last until December.
