By Stacey Tinsley, stinsley@bossierpress.com
A portion of Swan Lake Road will be closed later this month as it undergoes an expansion.
Swan Lake Road at Flat River Bridge will be closed to traffic beginning May 24.
The area of construction will run just north of the intersection of Duckwater Landing to just north of the Flat River Bridge.
The road is scheduled to reopen Aug. 5.
Through traffic should detour west on I-220 to Airline Drive (LA 3105), north on Airline Drive to Swan Lake Road.
Bossier Parish Engineer Butch Ford told the Press-Tribune last year, “You won’t be able to go north or south on Swan Lake. We’re going to maintain traffic for homeowners in the area. They will still have access to their homes and businesses.”
Ingress and egress for the local homeowners was originally designed to be a two-mile stretch of one-lane traffic with a pilot car guiding drivers, flaggers, and sheriff’s deputies stationed overnight.
The parish worked with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and the Federal Highway Administration to have an extra lane added south from the entrance of Tiburon subdivision.
“Now, next year when the contractor starts phase three, we will still have a one-lane operation north, where there is less traffic but there will be two temporary lanes south of Tiburon to I-220 where there is more traffic,” said Ford last August.
Ford previously told the Press-Tribune last year that the existing bridge was built as part of the off-system bridge program in 2006 at 28 feet wide. Because of the latest traffic counts, the new bridge will be widened to 40 feet.
As north Bossier sees continued growth, construction is following to accommodate the population and business growth in the form of the new major north-south corridor.
The $13.9 million project aims to relieve traffic on Airline Drive and Benton Road.
Phase 1 of the project is widening about a 3.5 mile segment of road that goes from I-220 up to the Flat River Bridge. Phase 2 will go from the Flat River Bridge up to Crouch Road.
The entire project is expected to be finished around November, weather permitting.
Federal funds will cover 80 percent of the cost of the project and the remaining 20 percent will be paid for by Bossier Parish.
