By Harlan Kirgan
Editor
Paving is coming to some city streets and a few of those streets are gravel that are being paved for the first time.
The paving program is being done with money from a state Community Development Block Grant.
A contract with Coastal Bridge for $466,884 for street improvements in the Happy Hill area was approved at the Nov. 13 city meeting.
Karl Aucoin, city engineer, said work would begin after the first of the year.
Most of the streets to be paved are near East Elementary School.
Eunice Mayor Scott Fontenot said the city applied for the grant in 2017 and received it.
“We are very fortunate to be able to get this grant,” he said.
After the work is done it will leave the city with minimal gravel roads, he said.
While the paving work is being done, there will be drainage work, he said.
“It is going to refreshen the neighborhood up,” he said.
The streets to be paved are Mathilda, Kyries Hebert, Goldman, Stone, Weaver, Tisington, Africa, Beulah and East Vine. Alleys are also to be paved.
The city spends more time and resources on the gravel roads than it does on paved roads, Fontenot said.
The city completed a paving program this year that cost about a $1 million.
City officials have pointed out that the paving program, which occurs every other year, is not keeping up with the needs of the city.