A string of party lights line the beams of a deteriorating overpass built in Baton Rouge during the 1930s. Nestled in the heart of the city, the Perkins Road overpass, bordering Chelsea’s Café, has been in need of repairs for many years. Despite repairs in the ’50s, the summer heat progressively takes its toll on the bridge. Chelsea’s Café owner David Remmetter said he did not pay much attention to the bridge until he realized it may affect his business. Remmetter has owned Chelsea’s for nine years and relocated the business two years ago from its original location on State Street. Remmetter said while the bridge needs attention, he wants the city’s Department of Public Work to fix it without disturbing his business. “In a nutshell, the bridge is moving and sliding off its piers, and DPW needs to do something about it,” Remmetter said. “But the guys from DPW are tight-lipped about what they want to do.” Remmetter said in addition to affecting his business, which attracts both adults and University students, construction will probably affect the surrounding businesses, including Duvic’s Bar and The Royal Standard. “One way or another, it’s going to affect everybody in the area,” he said. Remmetter said he fears not only his revenues will suffer if the city shuts down the overpass, but his parking lot will also be hard hit. He said any construction, regardless of whether the bridge remains open, will hinder the already limited parking under the bridge. “It will kill my parking,” he said. “If you can’t enter the front door, you can’t do business. Nobody likes to go eat where there is a construction zone.” Gary Pentek, program manager for the Federal Aid Off-system Highway Bridge Program, said the city will shut down the bridge for 18 weeks when the estimated $2.5 million construction begins. But the Louisiana heat will continue to crumble the concrete bridge before the project goes for bid on July 30. “The contractor and everybody will be very cognitive to the needs of the community in that area,” Pentek said. “It is incumbent on the city of Baton Rouge to get things going to fix it.” Anna Frey, manager of The Royal Standard on Perkins, said parking in the area is hard enough as it is. She said while she may lose revenue temporarily during the construction, she is optimistic. “It might hurt business for a while,” Frey said. “But when it is all said and done, of course people will come back. If it needs to be done, it needs to be done.” Owned and maintained by the Baton Rouge DPW, the bridge was originally planned for rehabilitation in 2000. Instead, it failed to receive maintenance, and DPW reduced the permitted load limit for the bridge because of the structural condition. Henry Pylant, DPW streets and bridge engineer, said the bridge will not be replaced, only repaired. He said the repairs are long overdue and construction on sections of the bridge will begin before it is shut down. “It is in poor condition, and that’s why we had to post the load limit,” Pylant said. Gill Gautreau, project manager for the Department of Transportation and Development, said he knew the project was supposed to be underway three years ago and does not know why it has been delayed. He said the original plans involved completely replacing the bridge but did not happen for several reasons – one being an aesthetic issue. “The people in the area like the bridge and the way it looks,” he said. “What happened to that bridge is a pretty common problem with bridges – something called pavement growth.” Gautreau said he has seen concrete fall at the end of the spans. He said if any concrete fell onto parked cars, it would only be very small pieces. He said while it would not be safe for a vehicle to have concrete fall on it, there is loose concrete on the bridge. But Pylant said customers should not worry about concrete pieces falling on their car because they should not be parking under the bridge. He said the area is public property and is not for private use. “If they are under there and anything falls on it, they have accepted that responsibility by being under there where they don’t belong,” Pylant said. Pentek said it is up to the East Baton Rouge Parish to determine whether the bridge is safe. Additionally, he said the public must have another hearing with area constituents in the next few months before the project goes to bid.
—-Contact Natalie Messina at [email protected]