St. Tammany News

Applause and shouts of agreement echoed the sentiment of "No, we don't want it," expressed by 128 residents of River Forest subdivision in Covington crowded into the temporary City Council chambers to protest the proposed highway that would go through their subdivision.

The spirited meeting featured comments from many citizens of the area voicing their opposition, each one followed by applause and shouts of agreement. Councilman Mark Sacco, who represents the district and lives in the subdivision, said he would "stand in front of the bulldozers myself to block the highway. It's just not coming through here." The proposed north/south highway would run from Louisiana Highway 21 behind Ochsner Boulevard through River Forest to connect with U.S. Highway 190 west of Covington.

The oldest subdivision in Covington houses a school, a church, a STARC group home and a demographic mix of people of all ages and income brackets. It forms the northwestern boundary of the city of Covington. Council President Trey Blackall said this bypass road is an important issue and eight or nine years away. But Blackall said he wants to get citizen input now, in the planning stage, while there is time to put this road somewhere else. He said if it was his decision, he would expand existing roadways such as the U.S. Highway 190 bridge leading to Collins Boulevard, which is currently two lanes, and widening Louisiana Highways 1085 and 1077.

Ted Barkerding agreed, saying the best bypass road is U. S. 190 and "we should convert civic energy priorities into solving the bottleneck issue of the bridge."

He said the reason the traffic backs up is the bottleneck, and traffic diverts to other roadways to avoid this.

Councilman Matt Faust said the roadway may or may not go through the city or west of the city, but it is the residents' choice. The parish is not proposing a roadway through the city, said Faust.

One resident of nearby subdivision The Village on West 15th Avenue, Eric Nye, said he rides his bike in River Forest because it has areas that are scenic with oaks trees. That could be destroyed by a four-lane highway, he said. In addition, the roadway would affect his subdivision and the whole area as well. Councilman Lee Alexius proposed that someone in River Forest prepare a petition and have everyone sign it. Alexius also took an informal poll of those present.

"There are three options," he said. "If you favor one, please raise your hand. First, the roadway would go through River Forest. Second, the roadway would skirt River Forest to the west. Third, the roadway is built on an alternate route, away from River Forest altogether."

Only two people raised their hands for option two. Option three received applause, vocal agreement and a show of hands. Marguerite Celestin, a River Forest resident and president of St. Scholastica Academy, said things do happen sometimes that are out of our control. She said that this is a huge, established subdivision, a family oriented neighborhood, and traffic problems already exist. She also raised the question of what such a roadway would do to property values in the area.

Parish Council Representative of the area and River Forest resident Marty Dean spoke for the parish. He said as far as the parish is concerned, the roadway is going to extend from Ochsner Boulevard, curving north to Francis Road and the new YMCA.

There are several things being talked about concerning La. 1085, and then on to the Tchefuncte River.

"We will do whatever Covington wants us to do, wherever you want us to go with it," said Dean. He reiterated previous comments that traffic is getting worse but there are "a lot of ways the parish can meet this road." Dean said that as the road goes north to La. 1085, the road is "done."

It can then continue the angle to west going around River Forest.

He said, "There are no plans for the parish to go any further than Francis Road." He added, hopefully the city will meet the road in the middle, but "there are no plans past La. 1085."

Dean also said there have been no hearings yet on the parish level.

Added to the mix is the fact the Covington city budget does not allow for the engineering that would be needed to build a bridge across the Tchefuncte River or buy the required land/homes and complete the engineering necessary for a highway, said Covington Mayor Candace Watkins.