ST. MARTINVILLE'S NORTH MAIN TO STAY FOUR LANES

Under pressure from public officials and private citizens, the Louisiana Department of Transportation of Development (DOTD) has shelved a plan to change North Main Street, La. 31, here from four lanes to three.
Instead, the two-mile stretch between the old railroad tracks and Levert Road will be resurfaced as planned and restriped in the existing four-lane configuration, state Sen. Fred Mills announced Monday.
Mills, speaking for the area’s legislative delegation, said they were told by a high official at DOTD that “without a shadow of a doubt” the highway will remain four lanes.
A Sept. 17 public meeting on the proposal to reconfigure the 2.2-mile portion of Main Street into one lane in each direction with a center turn lane was unceremoniously canceled. No official announcement from DOTD has been forthcoming.
Earlier this month, Mayor Thomas Nelson and others worked out an agreement with DOTD District Engineer Administrator Bill Oliver to temporarily restripe the stretch of highway before the planned resufacing to allow motorists and local officials to evaluate the three-lane configuration, which would have included bicycle lanes along both sides of the street.
The plan came to light in late August when the $750,000 contract was awarded for the work. City officials and area legislators, who were not informed of the project in advance, received calls from perplexed and angry citizens.
“We disagree with (DOTD’s) statistics and we don’t think they gave enough consideration to the impact of the new community college on traffic in the area,” Mills said.
DOTD said the reconfiguration was planned because of a high rate of accidents on the four-lane stretch of roadway. They say conversion to three lanes has reduced accidents in other communities across the state.