This Dangerous Lafayette Intersection Needs a Traffic Light

Construction on roads in Lafayette has really picked up tremendously over the last couple of years. Many of the main roads in Lafayette - Kaliste Saloom Road, Johnston Street, Ambassador Caffery Parkway, Congress Street - have been a part of the significant upgrades that are designed to improve the quality of the roads on which so many thousands of people drive each day in the Hub City.

At times it's a painful process (ask the residents who live near the construction on Dulles Road between Ambassador Caffery and Westgate Road) but when it's done it can make one's commute so much better.

That brings me to a well-traveled area of Lafayette. It's actually the dividing line between the City of Lafayette and the unincorporated areas of Lafayette Parish - E. Broussard Road. As I mentioned above, E. Broussard Road has benefited from the construction on Kaliste Saloom as the two now share a super roundabout that has helped improve the flow of traffic in the area.

Recently, the Robley Drive extension that intersects with E. Broussard was paved as the once-bumpy road desperately needed to be smoothed over.

Despite E. Broussard not being considered a major roadway itself, it sits between two major roadways in Johnston Street and Kaliste Saloom. That - combined with the fact that there are many neighborhoods built off the Robley Drive extension that goes all the way into Vermilion Parish - lends itself to lots of traffic passing through that intersection.

For drivers coming off of Robley onto E. Broussard, it's still a nightmare. While the road was being paved, workers put in a left turning lane on Robley. That helped but it didn't solve the problem. As a matter of fact, even though it has helped to ease traffic a bit in that area, it's also allowed for vehicles turning left and right off of Robley to jockey with each other for positioning as each tries to make it first onto E. Broussard.

In driving through that area often, I see drivers coming off of Robley being forced to wait long amounts of time as the traffic passing between Johnston and Kaliste Saloom goes whizzing by. Often, it makes for a very stressful situation as the traffic on Robley - and E. Broussard - tends to build up during peak traffic times and drivers begin honking their horns trying to rush other drivers onto E. Broussard so they aren't waiting for an unnecessarily long time.

This dangerous intersection needs a traffic light.

The E. Broussard/Robley Drive Extension intersection reminds me of the intersection of Eraste Landry at Westgate Road. A traffic light recently installed in that location has not only helped the flow of traffic but the safety of it as well.

Putting a traffic light at this intersection would greatly improve the commute for drivers who travel it every day and make it safer for everyone who drives through it.