Wildcat Drive will get turning lane by Bypass in Abbeville

Drivers leaving Abbeville High, Harvest Time or any other location on Wildcat Drive have two options when approaching the La. Highway 14 Bypass.
Those drivers may simply either take a left going east toward Erath or a right going west toward U.S. Highway 167. During the hours when school lets out, however, doing either may not be so simple.
“I have talked to some of the employees at Abbeville High,” Abbeville City Councilman Francis Touchet Jr. said. “They said at times when school is letting out, there is no direction of whether someone is going to take a left or right.
“It gets pretty backed up during that time.”
Wildcat Drive is a two-lane road and does not have a turning-lane designation at the point it intersects with the Bypass. Touchet, whose District B includes the area, suggested the idea of adding such markings to help facilitate traffic flow.
Touchet brought that idea to the rest of the Abbeville City Council Tuesday evening during its regular meeting. The council voted 5-0 to have a turning lane striped at the intersection of Wildcat Drive and the Bypass.
“Instead of someone hanging up the entire traffic by trying to take a left,” Touchet said, “they can move over to the middle and other drivers would be able to take a right.
“That will help alleviate some of that traffic being backed up.”
The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) has already approved the project.
“Primeaux and Associates came up with a plan based on requirements of traffic control,” Abbeville Public Works Director Clay Menard explained to the council. “We submitted that plan to DOTD and they in turn granted a permit in order for us to do striping on their right-of-way.”
The intersection is wide enough to place a turning lane.
“We are going to put a yellow line (on Wildcat Drive) to evenly divide it up into two lanes,” Menard said. “That will start about 800 feet from the intersection. At the intersection, when people approach the Bypass on Wildcat Drive, we will have two turning lanes. You will have a left turning lane and a lane to turn right.”
Councilman-at-Large Francis Plaisance said he felt the plan will benefit those who live and utilize the area.
“It is a good plan,” Plaisance said. “That is a bad area, really bad.”
The city is still waiting for more quotes to come in for the project. As it stands, the lowest bid is currently $9,195. Menard told the council he was working on receiving other bids. The council voted on the $9,000 price, but will accept a lower bid if one arrives. Menard said work will be done once the bids are finalized.
Touchet said this is not the first time the subject of traffic in the area has been given a look.
“We have had many, many requests about a traffic light at the intersection of Wildcat and the Bypass,” Touchet said. “We have tried on numerous occasions to get DOTD to do something on that. They said studies showed that a light could not happen.
“We can’t put a light, so maybe this turning lane will help.”