Bridge Closure to Reroute Traffic in Lafayette this Week

Lafayette, LA (KPEL News) - The Kaliste Saloom Road widening and roundabout at its intersection with E. Broussard Road has made traversing Lafayette, Louisiana, so much easier. The fact that it has cut back on some of the traffic on Ambassador Caffery between Kaliste Saloom and Johnston Street is enough reason to rejoice.

Drivers may be taken back a year or two for a couple hours on Wednesday morning (4/3) when the bridge closes for repairs. You may remember when the three-way stop where Kaliste Saloom and E. Broussard intersected was. As the years passed and the area developed, it was easy to have a 15 to 20 minute wait to go in any direction. The light they installed helped, but you could always plan to be there through at least three light cycles if you hit it at rush hour.

Development along E. Broussard has exploded over the last decade, and rightfully so. That's a beautiful stretch but, when the bridge is impassable, the route around adds a significant amount of time to any trip.

Thankfully, the closure will happen midmorning and hopefully everyone will be at the office by then. We'll keep our fingers crossed, especially since detouring around it means encountering the light at Kaliste Saloom and Ambassador if you go that way. Of course, dealing with the light at Johnston and Ambassador isn't much better with more cars traveling that particular direction.

The bridge will close from 8:30 am until 10:30 am on Wednesday morning.

Detour signs will be posted. Drivers will need to use LA 92 (Milton Avenue), LA 339 (Verot School Road), LA 3073 (Ambassador Caffery Pkwy), or US 167 (Johnston Street) to navigate around.

The repair work to the bridge will be postponed if weather prevents them from working. Louisiana DOTD expresses their appreciation for patience and asks that drivers proceed with caution, especially in the work zones.