The Breaux Bridge City Council is slated to approve a design for the Rees Street Corridor at next month’s meeting, and they want public input on the decision.
The design selected will be forwarded to the state Department of Transportation and Development, where the final decision will be made.
Mayor Ricky Calais said the project is a joint effort among the city, the Acadiana regional planning commission and DOTD. The city is putting up 20 percent of the cost, with the state shouldering the remainder, he said.
About eight months ago, the city hired a consultant to work on design ideas, he said. The group held several public meetings to gather input, and presented two ideas to the council last week.
“They’ve whittled it down to two designs, and they’re asking the public and council to pick one of the two to be recommended to DOTD,” Calais said.
The two designs will be presented at the council’s next meeting, set for March 12 at 6 p.m., he said.
Calais said he thinks the final design will have a four-lane boulevard, with a roundabout at the intersection of Mills and Rees streets, and another at the intersection of Rees and Refinery streets. The design also will probably have very wide sidewalks, to encourage pedestrian traffic along Rees, he said.
“We’re trying to recreate what we have downtown along Rees Street,” Calais said.
The construction is probably about 10 years out, but already the city is encouraging businesses to build along the street, and put their parking in the back or along the side of their buildings, he said.
