Parish attorney prepared to ask Metro Council about acquiring properties for Sharp Road project
BATON ROUGE -- The parish attorney's office is prepared to ask the EBR Metro Council to grant them the ability to take action, such as going to a judge, to acquire certain portions of properties needed for the Sharp Road Corridor improvement projects by MOVEBR.
This is in case an agreement between them and the properties can't be reached. MOVEBR says that this is a common practice on projects such as these. No offers have been made to the properties.
The Sharp Road project aims to make proposed changes to make it easier for walking and biking and help alleviate traffic. The project would be on areas of Sharp Road that stretch from Old Hammond Highway to Florida Boulevard.
WBRZ spoke to residents about the project. Some were not on board with it.
"The bike lane concerns me a little bit because it basically is gonna be located in what is now in my drainage ditch, so I assume they're gonna elevate that, so I don't know whether the road gets cut down to a lower elevation," Sharp Road resident Rhett Anderson said.
Others are optimistic about the changes.
"That would definitely improve everything, especially for the houses that live around here. They got a lot of walking and biking in the community and that would help a lot of people get to where they need to go," Sharp Road resident Dylan Jenkins said.
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One large aspect of the project involves building a roundabout at the intersection of Sharp Road and Mollylea Drive. This also had mixed reactions, with some residents happy something was being done because they say the intersection can be dangerous at times.
Others say it'll make it very difficult to get out of their driveway.
"When the light's red and the traffic stops, then the cars generally open up for you to turn in or to get out. With a roundabout, that traffic is going to continue to flow and you're almost going to have to wait for a gap, so you're not going to get that between 7 and 9 in the morning and probably 4 to 6 in the evenings," Anderson said.
The proposition budget for the project is set at $11 million.