GONZALES - Drivers in Ascension Parish are hoping for some relief in the form of a traffic circle. The only problem is the traffic circle hasn't been built yet.

Thursday, residents fighting for that traffic relief learned that the project might be further off than they were originally told. In November 2019, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development told WBRZ the project would go out for bid this year. It appears that's not the case and the project will most likely go out for bid in April 2021, pushing that long-awaited project off even further.

"We need safety now," Krista Pickering said.

Residents living along Loosemore Road say making a left hand turn out of the neighborhood onto Highway 44 is like risking their life, every time.

"Oftentimes you're just punching the gas and taking your life in your hands," Catherine Bergeron said.

Residents are hoping that a long-awaited traffic circle just south of their intersection will finally be built. They originally asked for a stoplight at the intersection, but it was not approved. A traffic circle to the north of Loosemore Road has already been finished. It filters cars between new neighborhoods and along Highway 44.

With additional traffic from two new developments along Highway 44, residents making that left hand turn say they need change.

"It's for our safety. It's for the safety of our kids. It's for the safety of everybody traveling Highway 44," Bergeron said.