Mandeville 190 project nearly done

Santa is granting one item on Mandeville residents’ wish list this year.

The $23 million U.S. Highway 190 widening project is finally open to traffic.

Although it’s not completely finished, Larry Sharp with the Department of Transportation and Development said the hundreds of cones and mountainous heaps of dirt zigzagging drivers across the heart of Mandeville are mostly gone.

What was a derelict, two-lane highway for many years is now a five-lane freeway complete with turning lane garnering access to businesses along U.S. 190.

It’s a sigh a relief for those businesses that have suffered through the seemingly never-ending construction that began in November 2006 and was scheduled to end by last summer but was delayed due to unforeseen hindrances.

First, crews discovered the underlying foundation wasn’t stable enough to support a five-lane highway. That tacked on more days of construction to the project as officials formed a new foundation. Then, the relocation of utility lines like phone and cable played havoc on the process along with some of the worse weather St. Tammany has seen in decades. All of the setbacks forced the completion date further into the year, all the while giving businesses financial fits with the lack of accessibility and overall confusion of getting to their establishments.

Now the cones have been lifted, traffic lights are working and all that’s left is aesthetic items like landscaping and stripe laying, Sharp said. Crews will have to wait till a warmer day to lay the stripes though, Sharp said.

He also said residents can expect the entire construction to be completely wrapped up some time in January.

To help the businesses along that stretch of highway, Mandeville City Council members began a Make Merry in Mandeville campaign to encourage shoppers to do their buying locally. They’re hoping their efforts help kick-start the local economy to pre-construction levels.