Speed limits on parish roads raised: Roads listed

Nearly 300 miles of newly paved roads lace St. Landry Parish, but the speed limits on those roads remain mostly in the 20 to 30 mph range.
The St. Landry Parish Council voted 10-1 to change the speed limit on 67 roads at its Wednesday meeting.
Parish President Bill Fontenot recommended the Council approve the new speed limits.
“We will have to take the recommendations from these professionals who do this kind of work,” he said.
District 11 Councilman Timmy Lejeune was the lone vote against the change.
“I think the constituents that live down that road ought to have a voice,” he said of the speed limit changes.
Lejeune said many of the roads are too narrow for 45 mph speed limits.
I think the people that live on these roads ought to at least have a say as well I think every district should be separate on the list and before this passes I think these roads need to be addressed by individuals,” he said.
But a move to delay the vote on the ordinance setting the new speed limits was quashed by the Council’s legal counsel, Chad Pitre.
Wayne Ardoin of District 9 had suggested that a representative from Neel-Schaffer, an engineering company, that recommended the speed limits, come to the Council’s Public Works Committee to explain how they arrived at the numbers.
Pitre said an ordinance must be voted upon unless its sponsor withdraws it and in this case, the sponsor, Mildred Thierry of District 4, said she wanted the vote to proceed.
In a report to the Council in June, Neel-Schaffer stated vehicle speeds were measured by radar on the roads.
“The analysis of the speed data revealed severe non-compliance with the existing posted speed limits. This may be due to the fact that the existing posted speed limits are lower than what majority of the driver’s judge to be safe and proper speed on the study segments,” the report stated.
The report also suggested the parish government with law enforcement agencies conduct periodic and targeted enforcement to achieve the posted speed limits.
Fontenot, who retired as the district engineer with the state Department of Transportation and Development, said using the professionally developed speed limits would allow the parish to obtain federal transportation grants.
“We do have problems with the speed limits now. They can’t all be 20. We have a lot of issues with that. There is an outcry from law enforcement agencies that we need to get these speed limits right,” Fontenot said.
St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz has appeared before the Council urging new speed limits on the roads paved in the Smooth Ride Home Program.
The Smooth Ride Home Program is a 15-year road improvement plan funded by a 2 percent sales tax collected in rural St. Landry Parish. The program is funding a $66 million bond issue that will be used to pave about 300 miles of road.
The annual bond payment is about $5.5 million and collections are running up to $6.5 million. Fontenot has said the excess revenue will be used to pay for more paving, which may total 450 miles of road paving in 15 years.
Fontenot said speed limits on roads can be revisited.
“Don’t slow this process down because there is no real good testimony or input that changes it that we can defend,” he said in urging a vote on the ordinance.
The professionally recommended speed limits are more defensible in court cases, she said.
Council members voting for the new speed limits were Nancy Carriere, Thierry, Shelton Easton, Harold Taylor, Ken Marks, Ardoin, Alvin Stelly, Dexter Brown, Jimmie Edwards and Coby Clavier.
Councilwoman Vivian Olivier was absent.
Tax repealed
Another ordinance the Council approved repealed a 1 percent hotel-motel occupancy tax for the new Central St. Landry Economic Development District.
The district is an expansion of the Harry Guilbeau Area Economic Development District north along Interstate 49 to U.S. 190.
A 1 percent sales tax for the Central District remains. Hotels and motels also collect that sales tax.
Buddy Helton, district chairman, said concerns were heard from hotel and motel owners about the tax increase.
“After thoughtful deliberation on this feedback it is our commission’s recommendation to you as a parish governing authority that the hotel-motel occupancy tax be removed the Central St. Landry Economic Development District,” he said.
The new district is a “landmark achievement” for St. Landry Parish and Opelousas, he said.
“We believe it is something we can be proud that we played a part in developing,” he said.