by Malcolm Butler
And all the Lincoln Parish residents said, “Hallelujah!”
Ruston mayor Ronny Walker said the bid for construction of the replacement bridge for Cooktown Road Bridge has been awarded to JB James Construction based out of Baton Rouge.
A completely new bridge will be constructed about (150 feet) to the west of the current one, said Walker. It will contain two roundabouts on the north side and one of the south, and will replace the existing bridge which was completed in 1961.
The project has been needed desperately for decades with constant issues with potholes and other structural issues.
“Between the four bridges in our city, it’s one of the busier ones,” said Walker. “It’s the gateway to the economic driver (in our city) which is Louisiana Tech. So when someone gets off I-20 to go to Louisiana Tech, they have to cross that bridge with all of its potholes. It’s the first thing many people see coming to our city, and that’s what bothers me.”
The winning bid was $39 million and will be funded by state money.
According to the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, the “estimated timeline” for the completion of the project is four years. However, Walker and James both believe it will be finished sooner.
“Every contract has how long it should take,” said Walker. “The state (DOTD) said four years. We don’t think it will take that long. I talked to some folks at the DOTD (Monday) and they said Jeff said the same thing.”
According to former Ruston native Jeff James, owner of JB James Construction and the great grandson of T.L. James, the project will begin sometime this fall. James believes the project won’t take the full four years.
“The state sets the (timeline) for the contract time for the job,” said James. “That’s what we bid on. The time the state set is four years. We plan to do the job earlier than that.
“I think it normally takes three months to get all the contracts signed. Then I think there are a few utilities that have to be moved. Then we would start sometime in the fall. It really depends on how much utilities have to be moved.
“Probably (start in) October. And there would be a utility relocation period of some time. And then we would start the construction.”
JB James Construction was started in 2002 by Jeff James.
“We have been in business for 22 years,” said James. “This will be our fifth overpass on I-20 that we have replaced in the last six years.”
JB Construction replaced two overpasses in Minden, one in Simsboro as well as the Tarbutton Interchange.
With work already underway on the Tarbutton Interchange in preparation for Buc-ee’s arrival, two of the city’s four overpasses will be under construction at the same time. It’s an issue that Walker is very aware of and has addressed with state officials.
“We have been working with the DOTD to make sure the phases or steps or parts of both projects don’t interfere,” said Walker. “In other words, we aren’t working on the frontage road where you turn to go into (Ruston Junior High) when they are having to divert traffic off Tech Drive all the way down to Tarbutton. We want everything to flow without any issues.”
