<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">I see what looks like a pair of Texas turnarounds being constructed under I-10 at Kirkman Street and Enterprise Boulevard. Is this what is going on? Why and how was this work determined to be a priority?</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The turnarounds, which have been in the works for at least a decade, are part of a yearslong effort to revitalize that part of the city — home to the recently designated Nellie Lutcher Cultural District — and make the Interstate 10 corridor more attractive for business development, city officials said.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">A study in 2003 cited the need to improve the corridor through Lake Charles; pointed out that “the I-10 frontage road system was inefficient and contributed to the lack of commercial development”; and “noted that the frontage road was divided by an abandoned railroad crossing at North First Avenue which prevented the continuous flow of traffic along the corridor,” said Mayor Randy Roach.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The study, he said, recommended that officials “create a contiguous service road system with U-turns at the interstate overpasses.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The suite of improvements suggested by t</span><span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">he study required the city to coordinate with the state Department of Transportation and Development and the Federal Highway Administration, Roach said.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“In 2005, DOTD and the city connected the interstate frontage roads which were separated by the abandoned railroad tracks at North First Avenue. This all</span><span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">owed traffic to move freely between Ryan Street and MLK Boulevard (Hwy 14),” Roach wrote in a statement forwarded to The Informer.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“In 2006, the city contracted with DOTD and FHWA to cost-share in the planning for the construction of U-turns at Enterprise Boulevard and Kirkman Street. DOTD and FHWA funded 90 percent of the cost to determine the feasibility of the project. The city paid the remaining cost, $13,623.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Roach said the city contracted with the state and federal agencies in 2010 to share the construction costs for the turnaround work. The city, he said, agreed to pay $471,194, or 20 percent of the costs.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">According to the DOTD’s website, the work should be done by the end of the summer. The contract amount is listed as $2,545,884.</span>

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<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Online:</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">www.cityoflakecharles.com; www.dotd.la.gov.</span>

<span class="R~sep~AHeadBrief">Law enforcement cars exempt from tint law</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">I bought a truck over a year ago, and I went to get it inspected today. They told me that I had to pull all the tint off my truck because it was too dark.</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">If they’re going to make everybody pull all their tint off the cars because it has to be a certain percentage, why do the cops get to have it so dark?</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Louisiana R.S. 32:361.1 says light transmission must be at least 40 percent for side windows in the front, 25 percent for the side windows in the back and 12 percent for the rear window.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Also listed in the statute: “The provisions of this Section do not apply to … publicly owned law enforcement vehicles other than those vehicles owned or used by the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.”</span>

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<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Online:</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">www.legis.la.gov.</span>

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<span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">The I</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">nform</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">er an</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">swers questions from rea</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">ders each Sunday, Monday a</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">nd Wednesday. It is re</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">searched and written by</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Andrew Perzo</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">, an</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">American Press</span> <span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">staff wri</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">ter. To ask a question, call</span> <span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">494-409</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">8 and leave voice mail, or ema</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">il informer@americanpress.com.</span>