After years of negotiations and legal tangling with landowners in the area, state highway officials opened bids this past week to build three two-lane roundabouts near the I-10 interchange despite an continuing legal fight with Tanger Outlets over the plan.
Barriere Construction Co. has the apparent low construction bid of just less than $29 million, which is almost $3.75 million over the state estimate, bid records show.
Two roundabouts would be on either side of the I-10 interchange, where traffic lights currently control vehicles going on and getting off I-10 and passing under the I-10 overpass.
The third roundabout would be just to the west of I-10 at La. 30's intersection with South Robert Wilson Road and South St. Landry Avenue. Traffic lights are there also.
The dual roundabouts on either side of I-10 would mimic a design that the state Department of Transportation and Development has already applied to interstate interchanges in Walker, Hammond, Rayville and West Monroe, state officials said.
The project would also be yet another roundabout planned in Ascension Parish, where DOTD and parish government officials have embraced the circular, continuous flow intersections as a way to move traffic and improve safety. They don't have traffic lights.
DOTD bid openings Wednesday also included another long-sought roundabout in Ascension, north of Gonzales at Churchpoint and Roddy roads. The construction bid was $1.94 million, state bid documents say.
Gonzales city officials have been supportive in the past of roundabouts at La. 30 and I-10 and, on Friday, welcomed the prospect of them being built.
"The City is excited to see construction begin on La. 30 at I-10 to help relieve heavy congestion in this critical, regional corridor," Mayor Barney Arceneaux said in a statement.
Construction is expected to take two years once it starts, state highway officials said.
Mallett, the state highway spokesman, added that typically, construction starts three to four months after a bid letting, though the time frame can be slightly longer if a contractor runs into delays getting specialty materials.
But the bid opening comes as state highway officials and Tanger Outlets, a major sales tax contributor for the city, are battling in court over the plan.
Tanger is one of a handful of business owners in the area who have raised concerns about the impact the roundabouts and related restrictions of left turns would have on customer access.
Representatives of Ascension's Robert family, which has gas stations and land in the area and owns a fuel distribution business, have aired similar concerns about these proposed and other already built roundabouts in the parish.
Tanger's main entrance, which would be between the two new roundabouts west of I-10, would only allow right turns in and out.
People leaving Tanger and trying to go left — back to I-10 — would first have to head right, or west, to the outer roundabout at South Robert Wilson. Then they would have to loop back to head east back to I-10.
The legal fight is ultimately over the forced purchase of Tanger's land, known as expropriation, court papers show.
Tanger officials have argued that the roundabouts won't sufficiently help traffic flow without a parallel project that is not being constructed and, without that added project, DOTD doesn't have a sufficient basis to establish the necessary public purpose to buy the land.
That additional project would build a new route between La. 30 and the I-10 overpass at Cornerview Road to the northwest of the I-10/La. 30 interchange.
The proposed new route and a related, new I-10 interchange, which would also replace the I-10 overpass over Cornerview, would remove industrial traffic from the La. 30/I-10 interchange and send it on a more direct route to plants on the Mississippi River.
In court papers, Tanger officials have pointed to DOTD's own feasibility analysis, arguing it found roundabouts alone wouldn't move traffic sufficiently. They needed the companion alternate route and the new I-10 interchange at Cornerview to make the grade.
During a public meeting on the roundabouts and two non-roundabout alternatives in 2016, DOTD officials presented the roundabouts and the proposed connection between La. 30 and I-10 at Cornerview as two necessary parts of one alternative.
DOTD went ahead with the roundabouts alone in 2021 and 2022. In court papers, the agency has maintained it has a clear public purpose and argued Tanger was also too late anyway in making its objections over the lack of an alternate connection between La. 30 and I-10.
After a hearing in January, Judge Steven Tureau of the 23rd Judicial District Court rejected on Feb. 6 Tanger's attempt to dismiss the land purchases for the roundabouts. Tanger formally told the court late this week that it planned to appeal the ruling.
The filing of the appeal won't legally halt construction for now, though DOTD could still choose to wait to see how the litigation plays out. Rodney Mallett, DOTD spokesman, and George Fagan, an attorney for Tanger, both declined to comment Friday about the lawsuit.
When asked about the Tanger lawsuit and its allegations about the roundabouts, Mayor Arceneaux said city officials weren't aware if "another roadway is required to ensure the roundabouts function properly." He declined to comment any further about the lawsuit, saying, "The City is not a part of those proceedings and is not aware of pending litigation."
David J. Mitchell can be reached at dmitchell@theadvocate.com or followed on Twitter at @newsiedave.