By Bobby Dowerbdower@americanpress.com

he District 7 regionaloffice of the stateDepartment of

Transportation andDevelopment is responsible forimproving and maintainingenough roads in SouthwestLouisiana to stretch from LakeCharles to Phoenix.

Steve Jiles, the districtadministrator for theoffice which isheadquartered inLake Charles,talked with theAmerican Pressrecently aboutDOTD’s missionand challenges in thearea.

American Press: How longhave you been with DOTD?

Steve Jiles: It will be 30 yearsin August.

And your background is asan engineer?

Yes. I’m a civil engineergraduate of Louisiana Tech in’81. I initially went to work inthe Monroe highway district forDOTD right after graduation. Iworked there for about fiveyears and I came here inAugust of ’86 right when Boeingwas coming in . ...

This office is responsible forhow many parishes?

Five parishes. Calcasieu,Cameron, Allen, Beauregardand Jeff Davis.

And about how many milesof roads does that entail?

About 1,300 linear miles ofroads in those five parishes,

state and federal roads that wemaintain.

You are faced with work onthe interstate — there’s avariety of roads that DOTD isresponsible for.

A wide variety of freeways,which is interstate commerce.Of course, all of our roads areviewed as truck routes. Wedon’t prohibit trucks based on

the class of the road, only onthe ability of the bridge

to hold the loads up.But we have got

some minor farmsroads in our systemthat require equalattention and it’s a

real strain on ourbudget trying to keep

these roads up.

Particularly in the ruralareas?

In the rural areas. But we trynot to neglect the rural areas.We have so much preservationand that’s really more of ourfocus these days is preservingwhat we’ve got, just trying tohold on to what we’ve got ratherthan expanding. There’s verylittle of that going on right nowand for the foreseeable future,it’s going to be hard fund thesebig projects.

They say in the state there isa $14 billion backlog as far asroad projects are concerned.How much of that $14 billion isbasically in Lake Charlesregion?

I haven’t seen a partition ofit, but I think at least 10 percent,maybe a little more than thatbecause we do have adisproportionate number ofbridges here that are in need.

There’s well more than thebudget could ever take on. It’s a

Road warrior

SUNDAY TALKSUNDAY, JULY 17, 2011

B

DEANNEWTONLake Charles

� Yes — to help in technologicaladvancement. If there is a cheaperway to continue exploration, we needto find it but it needs to continue toadvance our knowledge.

� Yes, we need to, There is still somuch we don’t know. It’s worthwhile.They have learned a lot to begin andthey need to continue.

CASEYSIMPSONLake Charles

� Yes, we need to continue spaceexploration. We are falling behind intechnology and we need to continueso we can advance scientificknowledge.

MONICACOLLINSLake Charles

� Yes, to see if there is other life outthere.

SAVANNAHMANARDSulphur

� I think they should simply foreducational purposes. It’s alwaysimportant to explore.

DWAYNEHARRISONLake Charles

ON THE STREET Should the U.S. continue to explore space?

On the Street: Compiled by Karen Wink American Press

DOTD’s Steve Jiles is responsible for keeping thousandsof miles of roadways in good shape for motorists

Brad Puckett American PressSteve Jiles is district administrator for the District 7 DOTD regional office headquartered in Lake Charles.

American Press archivesCrews from LaDOTD regularly inspect the Interstate 10 Calcasieu River bridge. The current $5.7 million maintenanceproject will cost more than the initial cost to build the bridge in the first place.

T

See Q&A B4

LOS ANGELES TIMES

GOP clings tighter totax hike opposition

Following the dubious leadof their counterparts inSacramento, congressionalRepublicans appear poised toreject a broad victory for thecause of fiscal responsibilityand limited government infavor of a narrow triumphover higher taxes. At theGOP’s insistence, reducingthe deficit has become a pre-condition for increasing thedebt ceiling, something thatCongress must do soon toavoid degrading the govern-ment’s credit rating andpotentially triggering anotherglobal recession. ButRepublican lawmakers havedug themselves in so deeplyagainst any form of taxincrease that PresidentBarack Obama seems to bestanding tall by comparison.

That’s funny, givenObama’s lack of enthusiasmin the past for closing thebudget gap. He all but ignoredthe recommendations of hisown deficit reduction com-mission, and his budget pro-posal in February punted onthe long-term problems posedby Medicare and other entitle-ments. Now, however, Obamais calling for a “balanced”approach that would reduce

projected deficits by $4 trillionover the coming decade. Thatamount may not be enough tokeep the national debt fromgrowing faster than the econo-my, budget analysts say, but itwould significantly brightenthe federal government’sfinancial picture. ...

THE TOWN TALKALEXANDRIA, LA.

La. placing fifth inobesity not a win

You might want to stepback from the ‘fridge for amoment and listen up:Louisiana is the nation’s fifth-most obese state and it’s get-ting fatter with each passingyear.

Nearly one-third of thePelican State’s population isporcine, according to a just-released report titled “F as inFat: How Obesity ThreatensAmerica’s Future 2011.”

Fifteen years ago, the datashow, Louisiana had an obesi-ty rate of 17 percent and wasranked fifth-most obese state.Since then, the obesity rate inLouisiana increased by morethan 80 percent.

As obesity rates go up, sodo the rates of chronic healthproblems, such as diabetesand high blood pressure. ...

It’s time to close ourmouths and open our eyes,Louisiana.

matter of just identifying theplace that we can make themost impact with the moneythat we do have. ...

And prices have goneup?

Prices have escalated. Ofcourse, we still operate on thesame 16-cent per gallon fuel taxthat was passed in ’84. That’scents per gallon, it’s not apercentage, so that’s prettymuch a flat revenue stream.The more fuel escalates, themore it costs to build a roadand the fewer the gallons getused, so the more the revenuediminishes.

There is a group that isbeginning to push the ideaof toll roads. They saidthat now that 16 cents (tax)now translates to aboutseven cents in today’sprices.

That’s correct. The sevencents is fairly accurate. Ofcourse, we do have anotherfour cents that was passedthrough what they call theTIMED program which was tofour-lane specific roads. Butthat money can’t be used forpreserving other roads. It wasa very specific use for thatmoney and of course there is abond indebtedness associatedwith it which carries up toabout the year 2040. Thatmoney is not really availableto us to use.

There is an 18.7-cent pergallon federal tax whichgenerates the state about $600million a year which is a littleless than what the taxgenerates. We’re really vieweda donor state. We put more into it than we get back into thestate most years. We have, thelast few years, with ourHurricane Rita repair projectswe did get quite a bit of extramoney for that which hasreally helped us restore someof our system over here.

How have you seenhighway constructionchange in your 30 yearswith DOTD? Are yougetting a better materialand so roads are lastinglonger? Or is additionaluse wearing our roads and

bridges faster than 30years ago?

I think both of thosecomments are true. We have aresearch center that is realactive and I think we do buildroads better than what we did,to last longer. But by the sametoken we have more vehicleson the road. I-10 when it wasbuilt had fewer than 10,000cars per day on it. Not there’splaces on I-10 that exceed60,000 in this area. The trucksright now comprise close to 20percent of volume on thesefreeways where at one timethe were less than 5 (percent).We’re dealing with a differentscenario as it relates tovehicles out there.

Do you find that becauseof funding and because ofwear and tear, you arealways in catch-up mode?

We are. We don’t like to bein that mode, but it’s hard toenvision being out of themodes. The needs far exceedthe available funding.

It’s about making decisions.We may have a road that isjust about completely gone. It’sgoing to require a complete

rebuild which is veryexpensive. We have anotherone that is may be at thethreshold of getting to thatpoint that we can still save, sowe may focus on this one thatis a little better than this realbad one because it’s gone anyway.

You have to make thosejudgments on the type oftreatment you’re going to haveon a project.

How much does usagefactor in there in terms ofthe number of cars that areon that road every day.

We call that average dailytraffic and that is a factor. Andusually the usage shows up inthe condition, the accelerateddeterioration of the road. Wedo consider ADT (AverageDaily Traffic) along with theaccident history, the wholelitany of factors that we mayconsider in addressing theroad situation.

Right now, you’re takingon some of therehabilitation of the I-10bridge, and it seems likeevery year or 18 months or

two years, you’re doingsome maintenance. Is thatbecause it’s an olderbridge?

It is. And the bridge isalways for the rest of its lifegoing to require a lot ofmaintenance. Now this is thebiggest maintenance projectwe’ve undertaken on thatbridge. It’s $5.7 million whichis more than the bridge costwhen it was built around 1950.

Hopefully, this project ongoing right now will lessensome of the maintenancedemands over the next severalyears. We inspect the bridgeevery year and I’m sure therewill be maintenance needsnext year, but hopefully they’lldiminish because of the extentof this project.

What is the status of thenew bridge?

We’ve recently been clearedby the Federal HighwayAdministration to restart theenvironmental process on itwhich could take up to threeyears. It’s a little morecomplex because of the EDCspill on the west side of thebridge. But at least that’s themode we’re in right now. Theyare moving forward with that.

Once that is completed,hopefully, we can move intothe planning, developing theplans. Of course, the one thingthat has always hindered us,up until this point, is thefunding. I think if the fundingissues can be worked out inCongress, I think the rest of itcan be accelerated.

Target-wise, under thebest scenario, when mightwe see the new bridgecompleted.

At least at this point, thebest-case scenario may beseven or eight years. But Ithink all of that could beaccelerated if funding could besecured for it. ...

The alignment maydepend on what they findenvironmentally?

It could. The EDC spill isnot stabilized. Some of it isbeing cleaned up. But some ofthe plume, if you want to call itthat, is still moving. And thebridge will be essentially

designed around that. Wedon’t want to drive pilingsthrough that. I think until it’sstabilized to where it’s going tobe the same five years fromnow or 10 years that it is todayit’s hard to plan when some ofit that is contaminated todaywill be clean, but some of itthat is clean today may becontaminated if it’s moving. Idon’t think we’re quite stableover there yet to proceed intodesign. ...

What other projects areon the drawing board forsay the next 18 to 24 to 36months?

We have a couple of projectsabout ready to start up onRyan Street. That little couleebridge just south of Clarence— that will be happening inabout two weeks (work startedMonday, July 11). There willbe a closure on Ryan Street fora couple of weeks. Ryan andPrien (Lake Road) is beingreconstructed. That workshould start within a month orso. We have a couple newconstruction areas on I-10 thatare coming up. Of course, wehave one ongoing in Sulphurright now. That one should becomplete within six weeks. Wehave another one in Westlakethat ties into the bridge andanother one from KayoucheeCoulee near 171 over to Iowa.We’re putting a new surface onthat road, the next six-laneroad.

We have several projectsthat will be later on. The RyanStreet exit ramp project — partof that project will be awardedthis year. We’ve actuallybroken the whole project intotwo phases. Phase One ispretty much everything butthe new eastbound exit rampand that part of a work will belet in November. It’s currentlyscheduled. We have thefrontage road work on I-10where we’re building someTexas turnarounds. We havesome corridor improvementsalong (I-)210, generally stufflike left turn lanes, double leftturns off of the exit ramps likeyou have at Lake and Ryan.Most of the interchanges along210 have some work scheduledfor them.

Beyond that, I can’t think of

anything in the Lake Charlesarea in the coming year. We dohave one scheduled for lettinglater this year and that’s WestPrien Lake Road fromContraband Bayou westwardto Nelson (Road). That shouldget awarded late this year.

The Port Access Road —those are a little bit furtherdown the line. There’s severalthat will be next year or thefollowing year.

Do you find when aproject is undertaken, saylike the five-laning ofCommon Street from PetroPoint to the airport, do youfind that the motorists andresidents around here aregenerally patient or do youfind that they’re impatientwith road constructionwhen it’s that big of aproject and it means somepeople have to detour orpeople of live off of thatroad have to make otherplans?

I think motorists showed alot of patience on that project,and motorists have been verygood about it. We understand aproject like that hurts somebusinesses, but hopefully itwill help those businesseswhen it’s completed.Generally, we’ll hear morefrom the business owners thanwe do from the motorists.

How many employees doyou have in this region?

We have 273 in this districtright now, which is about 50less than we had five yearsago. Now out of the 273, there’sabout 30 to 35 that are assignedto the four outlying parishes inthe construction andmaintenance gangs and there’sabout 25 or so that areassigned to the Cameron Ferrybecause we have to operatethat and the moveable bridges.So these 25 or so are notavailable really for other workas far as road or regularmaintenance activities that wedo. We have about 50 moreemployees than we have (now)five years ago and if you backthat up 10 years, it was about100 (more). ...

�For a more in-depth version of thisinterview, go to www.american-press.com

B4 SUNDAY, JULY 17, 2011AMERICAN PRESS

O T H E R V I E W S

S U N D AY TA L K

Q&A: New I-10 bridge could become a reality in 7 to 8 years

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BRAD PUCKETT / AMERICAN PRESS

Steve Jiles said area motorists generally show a gooddeal of patience when confronted with road construction.

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