BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -
A project meant to make the Acadian Thruway more pedestrian-friendly has put a handicapped woman in a bind. It is part of the East Baton Rouge City-Parish Green Light Project to add sidewalks from North Street to Choctaw.
Homeowners like Gladys Herman have been waiting years for sidewalks.
"Oh, I was happy about it because we never had a sidewalk out here, and I thought that was going to be the best thing," Gladys Herman said.
A city-parish sign laying out plans for the new sidewalk was like a dream come true. But two weeks in, Gladys Herman is changing her tune.
"I don't know. I really don't know what I'm going to do," Herman said.
It is not the construction cones, barrels or equipment that has gotten under Herman's skin. Herman says she had to sacrifice her driveway for the project.
"I have a very small parking space as it is," Herman said.
Herman says the construction crew promised she would have a driveway. In the meantime, she has been parking her sports utility vehicle in the median across the street. But it is just a temporary fix, one that has made her sister Carla Smith very uneasy.
"My sister walks with a cane. She walks with a cane, and I don't want anything to happen to my sister. The way traffic comes through here, believe you me, anything could happen," Smith said.
Herman cannot park on the newly-paved sidewalk because she is worried once the project is complete she will be ticketed for parking in front of her house.
Smith says her calls to city-parish leaders have gone unanswered.
"I've been calling all week. The first phone call I made was last Wednesday. They tell me, you call 211 or 311 and you be transferred to this place and that place. At some point they need to realize this lady, my sister, is here alone. This is her haven and it's not fair to her," Smith said.
Department of Public Works Director, William Daniel, did not respond to our requests for comment.
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