New Iberia Railroad & Drainage Getting Fixed

Posted: Sep 22, 2009 9:08 AM by Veronica White
Updated: Sep 22, 2009 9:08 AM

New Iberia has always had flooding, water buildup, and drainage problems after it rains, and locals are doubtful that anything will change.

"We've always been promised that something's going to be done and we've yet to see anything done about it," said one resident.

A big railroad reconstruction project took off this morning-- a step towards solving this. One big problem area is the railroad track between providence and center streets.

Under the current engineering structure, when it rains the track acts as a trench, causing water buildup, and therefore traffic problems.

"It causes our trains to move at a much slower speed and sometimes have to stop... when they stop it blocks crossings, and when crossings are blocked motorists are severely inconvenienced," said Joe Faust of BNSF Railway.

The close to one-million dollar project, which began Monday morning, will continue through Thursday. The railroad construction team is confident that once the project is complete, high water buildup along the railroad will no longer be a problem, and the water will instead go into the city's drainage system where it belongs.

In the middle of hurricane season locals hope it will all work-- the first step towards fixing the drainage problem.