Deal is reached on Howze Beach Rd.

SLIDELL - A local businessman said that he intends to cooperate with the parish and allow residents who depend on the Howze Beach Road bridge to use his property as an alternate route once the bridge is closed.

A solution to close the badly worn bridge and reroute traffic through a private road is being worked out through the parish and Robert Torres, who owns the property adjacent to the bridge in the Oak Harbor East area, said spokesman Phil Salvaggio.

"We are going to do what is right for those people to give them access to their homes," said Salvaggio.

Weeks ago, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) notified the parish that they were getting ready to place the bridge on their off-system bridge replacement program, which would require the parish to either repair the bridge or close it. The bridge, which provides road access to only four homes, would cost nearly $62,000 to repair, said Parish Engineer John Shires.

The parish is seeking an agreement with Torres to grant a temporary public servitude which would allow the department to augment the private dirt road to parish gravel standards.

Shires sent a draft of the temporary agreement to Torres on Tuesday. Salvaggio expects to have the document completed and signed by the end of the week.

All of the field work and surveying of the road is complete, said Shires. Once the agreement is signed, Shires can order the gravel and clay to begin construction.

The property that the new road occupies is slated to be developed into a planned community. Residents of the four homes will retain access even if the development is gated, said Salvaggio.

The state hasn't given Shires a deadline to close the bridge, yet he hopes to have the situation resolved before mid-March when the DOTD completes its inspection of the parish.

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