By Malcolm Butler
UPDATE: the intersection of East Kentucky and Cedar Creek road did not open this morning due to a delay in the striping process. Andrew Halbrook said that it will open around 4 pm today (Tuesday).
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City of Ruston Public Works Utility Manager Andrew Halbrook said that the newly constructed intersection at East Kentucky Ave and Cedar Creek Road will open for traffic starting Tuesday morning.
The contractor, Regional Construction out of Natchitoches, has been working on the new intersection for months and spent the weekend preparing for traffic to be swapped over. The new intersection is approximately 300 feet to the east of the existing one.
“We are going to go to sleep Monday using the current intersection and we are going to wake up Tuesday using the new one,” said Halbrook.
The existing intersection will then be closed to traffic said Halbrook as the contractor has some demolition work to complete.
“We are going to keep the bridge in its place (on the existing one),” said Halbrook. “We haven’t fully developed a plan of what our future use of it is. It will be a connection to our pedestrian and active transportation infrastructure along East Kentucky Avenue. But for the most part the (existing) road will be removed, and it will be turned into a green space.”
Once traffic is swapped to the new intersection Regional Construction will continue to make progress bringing the roadway to its final orientation, with Cedar Creek Road transitioning from the original road location to the new intersection near the entrance Foxx Creek Drive.
The $1.7 million project will be completed by November of this year.
