Councilwoman Deidre Ledbetter listens during the meeting.

New Iberia City Councilman David Broussard brought up several infrastructure issues in District 3 at Tuesday’s council meeting, and the answers he got from Mayor Freddie DeCourt indicated the issues would be long-term.

The major problems Broussard brought to the council were road and sidewalk issues. Broussard asked about the possibility of installing sidewalks in front of Catholic High School and along Center Street, as well as closing in ditches and installing sidewalks on Weeks and Julia streets.

“Presently pedestrians have no option and must share the road,” Broussard said. “We need to improve and modernize Weeks and Julia. Pedestrians that walk there should be able to walk on sidewalks and not have to share existing narrow roads with traffic.”

Broussard also asked for crosswalks at Iberia Street and Admiral Doyle Drive, as well as crosswalks at Admiral Doyle Drive and Center Street.

The councilman said schools and restaurants have emerged on Admiral Doyle, and the road is also a Louisiana state highway that serves as the gateway to the Acadiana Regional Airport. Broussard had previously asked for turning signals at one section of Admiral Doyle, and said he wanted to amend his request to add crosswalks.

“With these improvements, safety will be improved for cars and pedestrians, Broussard said. “Those infrastructure improvements are needed to make New Iberia a safer city.”

Broussard asked for city government to request the Acadiana Metropolitan Planning Commission, which assists in local projects for cities and parishes in Acadiana, to help provide the grant money for the projects.

DeCourt said he sits on the MPO board along with Iberia Parish President Larry Richard, and that the length of time some of the projects have taken has been very long. DeCourt cited the Safe Routes to School grant which was received three years ago and is only starting this year.

“We inherited the Pesson (Elementary Safe Route to Schools) Project, I check on it often and the best case scenario is we’ll have some rough plans in June,” DeCourt said. “That’s if everything works out, and then maybe start work in October. That’s three and a half years, that’s not a quick fix.”

For the crosswalks, DeCourt said the council could vote on a resolution and send it to the state Department of Transportation and Development to install them.

“We have letters for crosswalks, if you want to send some resolutions that would be easy to do and ask for those crosswalks,” DeCourt said. “Whether we get them or not is another subject.”

In other business, the City Council: 

• Heard a proclamation declaring May 2 as “A Day of Prayer” in New Iberia. 

• Heard from bonding attorney Jason Akers about budgetary issues. 

• Unanimously voted on a resolution accepting the Municipal Water Pollution Prevention Environmental Audit Report.