By Bonnie Culverhouse

Minden drivers will be traveling on a smoother road in the future, thanks to efforts by Minden City Council’s lobbyist Caroline Mladenka and Webster Parish’s state Representative Wayne McMahen who brought good news to the council Monday night.

Along with Senator Adam Bass, Mladenka and McMahen worked hard during the past legislative session to procure state funding to “redo” Homer Road from the intersection at the Webster Parish Library to the Claiborne Parish line.

“We secured almost $8.9 million in Priority One funding for infrastructure,” Mladenka told the council. “We accomplished our number one goal for Minden, which was Homer Road improvements.”

Mladenka said the funding is through a competitive Capital Outlay bill and was the result of strategic planning, relationships, bills and a lot of hard work.

“The end result was over and beyond what we expected,” she said. “Minden area is recipient of a $8.1 million DOTD (Department of Transportation and Development) infrastructure project. It’s only one of 37 projects in the whole state to get this.”

McMahen agreed that Homer Road is a “big deal.”

“Everybody drives over that,” he said. “I can see why that is the number one priority to most people.”

“Homer Road is a big win for the City of Minden and all those who do business in the city,” said Mayor Nick Cox.

Mladenka said discussions for the project began at the beginning of the year, and it is scheduled to be let (for bids) the fourth quarter of 2025-2026.

During the previous session, a bill was passed to restructure DOTD and place it under new leadership.

“Hopefully with this new change, we will see more things locally happening,” said District D councilman Michael Roy.

(Editor’s Note: Story Friday will address projects for the rest of the $8.9 million.)