PORT BARRE, La. (KATC) — A Port Barre resident who says she has grown frustrated with a deteriorating stretch of roadway is calling for long-term repairs after a pothole along Pernie Bailey and Bayou Road prompted complaints from drivers.
Mary Grace Doucet, who has lived in the area for nearly 25 years, said the roadway has become a concern for residents who travel through the area daily.
“What you’re looking at is an ongoing issue that has not been addressed,” Doucet said. “When you’re advertising that our hard taxpayers’ money is at work and you have a ginormous pothole that’s affecting the value and the use of this area, it doesn’t make a concerned citizen like me feel very comfortable.”
Doucet said she worries the road’s condition could lead to vehicle damage and more costly repairs in the future.
“If it’s not fixed and we just let it sit like this, people are going to have vehicles that are damaged,” she said. “We already have erosion going on. Why would we want to pay more money to repair the entire road when we can pay a smaller amount now to get this fixed?”
She also pointed to heavy dump truck traffic in the area, saying the large vehicles regularly travel the roadway and may contribute to the wear and tear.
“The more you leave it like this, the worse it’s going to get, especially when we have those big dump trucks from the parish coming in every day,” Doucet said.
Doucet said the issue affects more than just drivers’ comfort.
“People don’t realize that this is a prominently poor community,” she said. “Fortunately, for people like me, I do have the means to fix a busted tire or get an alignment, but there are many people that live down here that are not in the same position that I am.”
Shortly after KATC reached out to parish officials about the pothole, crews arrived on scene and began patching the roadway.
St. Landry Parish President Jessie Bellard said he was first notified of the issue on Monday after KATC's Paris Flannigan made a phone call to parish government.
“The first I heard about it was today— whenever they called and said that they had a pothole on Pernie Bailey and Bayou Road,” Bellard said. “That’s the first I’ve heard of it. So we sent out a crew this morning and they took care of the problem.”
Bellard said the parish depends on residents to report roadway concerns.
“I don’t have somebody that’s just riding the roads looking at problems,” Bellard said. “We actually rely on the public to tell us where they need some assistance so we can go fix it.”
Addressing concerns about heavy equipment damaging roads, Bellard acknowledged that roadways naturally deteriorate over time and that large vehicles can contribute to the wear.
“If you have heavy equipment, it’s going to make holes,” he said. “But the same trucks that are making the holes are the same ones that’s going back and fixing them.”
Bellard said the patch completed Monday is intended as a temporary solution while parish officials evaluate a more permanent repair.
“We’re going to go take care of it,” Bellard said. “Right now, this should be good for now, but we’re going to go take care of the problem.”
For Doucet, the repair was a welcome sight, but she hopes it leads to lasting improvements.
Parish officials have not announced a timeline for permanent repairs.
