Abbeville will overlay more streets thanks to grant

More than $700,000 of overlay work will soon be done to several streets in Abbeville.
A lion’s share of the amount will come from the state-funded Louisiana Community Development Block Grant (LCDBG). The city will receive $600,000, the max available from that grant, and then contribute more than $100,000 to the project.
“The work will be primarily in District C,” Abbeville Mayor Mark Piazza said. “There will also be work done in District D and a portion in District A.”
Councilman Brady Broussard Jr., who represents District C, said he is pleased for the constituents in each of the areas where work will be conducted.
“I’m happy that the citizens I represent in District C will benefit from this state-funded street overlay project,” Broussard said. “It will be a pleasure, working with Councilman Wayne Landry (District D) and Councilman Louis Joe Hardy (District A) on this project that will benefit each of our districts.”
Landry said the LCDBG has had a tremendous effect in his district over the years.
“We are very excited about this grant,” Landry said. “About 40 percent of this grant will be used in District D. Our district will about 90 percent complete with roads seeing an overlay thanks to the grants we have had in the past few years.
“While it is great for District D, it is also great for the entire city.”
Councilman-at-Large Francis Plaisance agreed.
“I appreciate the opportunity and help we have gotten to overlay these streets in the city,” Plaisance said of the grants. “As we get better roads in the city, it enhances our ability to attract new businesses to the city.
“We’re excited about being able to get these kinds of things done.”
Some of the work to be done will include blocks of the following streets:
East Vermilion St.
North East St.
South East St.
S. St. Charles St.
East Oak St.
South Louisiana St.
Martin Luther King
Seventh St.
Eighth St.
Ninth St.
Edwards St.

The state sent notification to the city in early November that Abbeville had received the 2013 grant. The city then opened the bid process. The City Council is expected to review bids during its next regular meeting, scheduled for Jan. 7.
The LCDBG is awarded to municipalities every two years. This is the third straight time the city has received the maximum grant amount to overlay streets. In ‘09 the grant aided a $708,000 road overlay. The ‘11 grant helped fund a $827,000 project.
“This year’s project is in excess of $700,000,” Piazza said. “The grant has been of great benefit to the city.
“It is through the state so we certainly want to thank our local legislators for their help and participation in the project.”
Work for this project is expected to begin in the next several weeks. When that happens, the city plans to further supplement the project.
“In this year’s budget, which was recently approved,” Piazza said, “we decided to include an additional $75,000 on top of the $100,000 we budgeted last year for the project. This will allow us to maybe do some additional streets.”
Piazza said adding the extra $75,000 to the project makes sense because the contractor will already be in the city.
“Whenever you have the contractor in town it is a much cheaper price than if you hired them to just come in and do a couple of streets,” Piazza said. “While we have them here, we want to do as many streets as possible.
“We wanted to add to the project in case some streets really were in need and weren’t included in the project.”
The city is looking at other means to overlay as many streets as possible.
“Hopefully we can get the (Vermilion Parish) Police Jury to partner with us on some of the streets,” Piazza said. “There could be some additional streets added to the project.”