By Bonnie Culverhouse

Travelers on Sheppard Street will have a smoother route in a few more days, as City of Minden and Benton & Brown Inc. finish work on the stretch from East Union Street to Shreveport Road.

There has been a long-running debate on whether City of Minden or State of Louisiana owns and is responsible for pot-hole and bump-ridden Sheppard Street.

“At this point, I feel like the people of Minden sincerely don’t care who pays for it, they just want it done,” Mayor Nick Cox said. “So, we decided it was time to help ourselves.”

Cost to repair the base, mill and overlay the road is around $362,000 and is included in the city’s street budget for this year.

Sheppard Street was built by the state in 1953.

“The state came up with the highway system in 1954, and they declared that anything that wasn’t in the highway system should revert to the municipality or the parish,” Cox explained.

Since he has been mayor, Cox said there have been at least three DOTD secretaries. He has met with all of them and “they would determine it was the city’s road,” he said, adding that when the administration changes, all the rules change.

Cox said the contractor is working the stretch between Shreveport and Sibley roads first.

“They will mill and repair today and tomorrow,” he said Wednesday. “Then they will overlay Friday. But they will work straight through the intersections and have it all done soon.”

Last week, City of Minden finished a project on Industrial Drive to La. Hwy. 531.

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