PRAIRIEVILLE, La. (WAFB) – Back-to-school traffic around the new Prairieville High School just got more complicated due to a new construction project on the same street. Residents are frustrated and wondering why construction can’t wait until after school breaks.

“The traffic on this street because of the school is bad enough, and now it’s going to get even worse,” said Diane Webb, a neighbor of the high school.

Webb said she lived at 929 Parish Road for nearly 15 years and never had any problems with traffic until school began last week at the new Prairieville High School.

As part of the construction, new asphalt will be applied to Parish Road 929 from Airline Highway to the Parker Road roundabout at the high school.

“Definitely not during school time, it’s bad enough when the road is perfectly fine because of all the traffic,” Webb added.

She’s not alone in this. On Facebook, people said things like, “Why couldn’t this be done in the summer when school is out? That would just clog up traffic even more.” Another commenter added, “That makes total sense! School only started last week, so why not cause even more chaos on the commute?”

Daniel Helms, chief traffic engineer for Ascension Parish, says that although it is a municipal road, the Department of Transportation and Development has the final say on the construction schedule.

“They haven’t had any funding available to them so this is coming right after the school year has just started again and a brand new school has opened. But for us, it’s an opportunity to work with the Department of Transportation and give our residents better, safer roads to drive on, at a fraction of the cost of having to fund half of our annual supplemental budget ourselves,” Helms said.

However, the parish says it will monitor school traffic during this process and make changes to working hours if necessary.

“We would certainly appreciate your patience during this process, all roadwork is a nuisance and we understand that. But we ask for your patience during this time and to be cautious as you are driving through a construction zone,” Helms added.

They said the project should be completed by the end of the year, weather permitting.

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