I had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. James Metoyer after the Hwy. 495 DOTD meeting this past Tuesday. Mr. Metoyer started a petition last October regarding the ongoing closure of a portion of hwy. 495 in Cloutierville. The highway has fallen into disrepair and a 2.2-2.5 mile portion was closed on May 9th 2019 due to an embankment slide that compromised the safety of that portion of the highway.

After over 6 years of no signs of action, members of the community decided to organize a petition to bring light to the situation. They also contacted their state and federal representatives and senators and their parish council member and president. Mr. Metoyer gave credit to Mr. Dewitt for being instrumental in getting answers and setting up the DOTD meeting.

At the meeting the attendees were informed that there was a plan to fix the highway. By realigning the curves of 2 areas further from Cane River it would move the road from the eroded embankment onto more stable ground. This plan would call for the purchase of right of way from land owners in the affected area. That is the current stage the project is on. Attendees were also told that funding had been secured for the project at a cost of 1.6 million. The project would utilize the PROTECT program(Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative Efficient and Cost-saving Transportation) for funding. The project is due to be bid out around June of this year. Mr. Metoyer did have concerns about funding falling through so close to the end of the fiscal year.

If all goes to plan the project is estimated to take 18 months. So it’s reasonable to estimate a completion date of very late in 2027 or early 2028. While the official closure was in 2019, residents recall issues with the road beginning in 2016 after a hurricane. We hope our elected officials and parish DOTD engineers will keep the Cloutierville community in the loop as the project continues and that everything goes to plan. With the rough estimates and start dates, residents are still looking at almost a decade of having a state highway shut down right in the middle of their community. I commend the residents who came together to advocate for their community.