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Livingston Parish committee hears progress on Juvan Road extension, Cook Road and parishwide road program
Summary
Committee members received updates on the Juvan Road extension, a July 27 final‑acceptance walk for Cook Road, and a multi‑project Better Roads Program that aims to bid 12 projects covering roughly 140 miles by year’s end.
The Livingston Parish Infrastructure Committee received detailed updates on ongoing road projects and the parishwide road program, including the status of the Juvan Road extension and a near‑term final acceptance for Cook Road.
The committee heard that the Juvan Road extension is just over a mile and will connect Lockhart to the roundabout at Highway 190, including an overpass over the railroad. "It's just over a mile, and it connects, from Lockhart to the roundabout at 190," said Chad, a parish staff member presenting the update. Chad said the parish has completed topographic survey work, is running traffic models with DOTD, and is conducting environmental and cultural surveys.
Why it matters: committee members said the Juvan extension will add north–south connectivity and help relieve congestion in nearby Dillon Springs and Walker. Chad told the committee that capital outlay funds have supported planning (he cited a roughly $3,000,000 planning pot from prior sessions) and that the Central Regional Planning Commission (CRPC) has approximately $10,000,000 committed toward construction for one of the project phases. He also said a GoRail grant is unlikely for this project unless at‑grade crossings are reduced.
Cook Road and opening timeline Preston Brown, a project engineer working with the parish, said Cook Road is in the final stretches and that the parish will hold a final acceptance walk on July 27. "We are July 27 doing our final acceptance walk," Preston said. He described punch‑list cleanup underway and told the committee the contractor is technically ahead of schedule because certain utility relocations allowed crews to work without stopping the contract clock.
Program scale, bids and costs The committee reviewed the parish’s Better Roads Program, a multi‑project effort to resurface and reconstruct parish roads. A committee member said five projects are already approved for construction and that Project 6 (Denham Springs Phase 1) will be advertised for bids on Aug. 6. The program manager told the committee the goal is to have all 12 projects bid by the end of the year, with most contracts structured as roughly 180‑day jobs and a target to complete work by summer next year.
Staff estimated the program covers about 140 miles of roads across the 12 projects and that the typical cost is roughly $400,000 to $425,000 per mile. The committee noted cost savings from breaking work into geographically smaller packages to reduce mobilization and traffic‑control expenses.
Materials and quality control Staff described use of a pavement matting layer between the binder and wear course to reduce reflective cracking and limit moisture infiltration, and said the parish is using concrete culverts in place of galvanized pipes to improve longevity; staff noted concrete culverts have a substantially longer expected service life. DOTD‑certified inspectors assigned through the program manager will perform daily inspection, and the parish has increased lab testing (moisture and density checks) to ensure road base performance.
Next steps Staff said it will circulate Juvan Road planning updates as environmental work and traffic studies progress and that the parish will walk Cook Road with DOTD and the contractor on July 27 to produce a final punch list. The committee adjourned after a motion by Watts and a second by Sanford.
