VERMILION PARISH — Refrigerators, ice chests, logs and dead alligators are piling up under a bridge crossing Bayou Queue de Tortue in Vermilion Parish, and local officials say they lack the funds to keep clearing the waterway.
“Naturally, if it would flow straight, it would pass through the bridge, but as soon as one hits the wood pylons on the new bridge, then it starts a back stack of debris that floats down the bayou,” Vermilion Parish Police Jury President Chad Vallo said.
The buildup is trapped on one side of the bridge where Petry Bridge Road and G. Simon Road cross the bayou. Vallo said the parish has already made efforts to fix the recurring issue.
“We hired a contractor and they went with a, it’s called a long stick, it takes a special machine because it’s so deep in the bayou and they removed the debris. That was a $6,000 charge,” he said.
“We removed the pylons from a separate incident. That was a $28,000 job to remove the pylons,” he said.
Officials removed the pylons that were grabbing the debris almost three months ago, but the blockage has since built up again.
Vallo said, “I realize it’s not a palatable thing to hear, but it’s unfortunate that we just don’t have the funds to keep going and clean up the debris at the bridge."
The parish is now considering installing bumper guards to act as debris deflectors, similar to those used in the Vermilion River.
“If you look in Vermilion River on the bridges we have here, we installed those where it’s a debris deflector. And hopefully we can find funds for that or a grant for that and at least try that because it looks like it works in Vermilion River,” he said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
