By Paige Gurgainers
It looks like after many years of back and forth between the Webster Parish Police Jury (WPPJ) and the Louisiana Department of Transportation (LaDOTD) regarding ownership, Frontage Road will finally be taken care of.
There has been ongoing question regarding who actually owns the road, but at a recent meeting in Baton Rouge, attorneys informed the group in attendance that the state does own the dirt under the road, but not the actual road. To resolve the issue, the state has agreed to issue a permit allowing the parish to build a brand-new roadway.
According to District 5 Juror Mike Griffith and multiple business owners along the road, it has been in “dangerously bad” shape for quite some time.
Owner of JTB Rentals James Montgomery attended the November Road Committee meeting, to update the jurors on his recent visit to Baton Rouge to discuss the future of Frontage Road, which crosses Goodwill Road. After numerous discussions with Governor Jeff Landry, LaDOTD Secretary Joe Donahue and District Engineer Administrator David North, a resolution was agreed upon.
“That road is going to be built. It is going out for bid next year and should be built by November 2026 and he is going to build it just like Webster Parish wants it to be built,” Montgomery said.
According to Montgomery, Frontage Road has already been approved to be entered into the exchange program with Webster Parish picking it up. The location of the brand-new roadway will vary slightly from its original position, will be 22’ wide and will follow minimum requirements for an industrial roadway.
“We have to stay on them and make sure we get those plans to LaDOTD just to make sure that they are going to build it to Webster Parish specs,” said Montgomery. “The state is going to pay for it, and it will bring some tax revenue to the state and to the parish.”
Other discussions were held regarding the Webster Parish Road Priority List, a decision was made that each juror would ride each of their districts and turn in the top three roads most in need of repairs to Engineer Brad Graff. Graff will then rate the roads and update the list accordingly.
