Lafayette’s Newest Roundabout To Open

Tomorrow, Friday, May 28 will be the first day that drivers will be able to use Lafayette's news roundabout at the intersection of Girard Park and Hospital Drive.

Bids on this project went out the last week of June 2019 with the actual construction work beginning in November 2019.

If you have traveled that corridor any time in the past, you might have experienced delays and/or difficulties with being able to take a left turn from Hospital Drive onto Girard Park Drive. The intersection could cause a time delay for people who traveled there on a regular basis, but engineers believe this roundabout will make the intersection more efficient.

To pay for this project, the Acadiana Planning Commission says in a press release, that the funding came through a variety of sources including the following:

• The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development
• The Federal Highway Administration
• The Metropolitan  Planning Organization under the Federal Highway Administration
• The Acadiana Planning Commission
• Lafayette Consolidated Government

In addition to efficiency, officials with the Acadiana Planning Organization say the intersection will be safer, there will be less traffic congestion, and officials anticipate that there will be fewer crashes in that area.

Ashley Moran with the Acadiana Planning Organization says in the press release that fewer crashes, less congestion and safer intersections are the reasons why local and state officials in Louisiana are opting more often to put in roundabouts at intersections. She adds that there are fourteen roundabouts in Lafayette Parish and that makes Lafayette the parish with the most roundabouts in the state of Louisiana.

There will be a ribbon cutting ceremony held tomorrow to commemorate the opening of the roundabout. Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory, Councilman John Guilbeau and Councilwoman Nanette Cook will be on hand for the event.