The New Iberia City Council and Mayor Freddie DeCourt have seemed to hit a dead end following the Department of Transportation and Development’s rejection of an offer from the city to offer a match to arm the railroad crossing at Caroline Street. 

The council narrowly voted to commit to a $100,000 match at a previous meeting to keep Caroline Street open following DOTD’s long standing desire to close down the crossing to public traffic. 

DOTD sent a letter to the city notifying that a public hearing was not held in accordance with state law, which the mayor said was a rejection of the offer and a doubling down of closing the crossing. 

“They never really said ‘I don’t want your money,’ but they told us no basically,” DeCourt said. 

After receiving the letter, DeCourt wrote a response to DOTD outlining all the steps taken up to that point regarding the decade long history of the city’s attempts to keep Caroline Street open.

“We asked if we could do a public hearing but we also wanted to know if the public hearing would make any difference,” DeCourt said. 

The railroad is owned by BNSF, and the state DOTD has been attempting to close down several New Iberia crossings for years in accordance with a study that showed the amount of crossings running through downtown New Iberia. 

Caroline Street has remained a point of contention for several mayors and city councils. Council members like Deidre Ledbetter has said that the DOTD study that was issued several years ago does not take into account recent developments on Caroline Street that include a rehabilitation facility on the street that creates a need for direct access to the rest of the city. 

Ultimately, the decision on whether or not to close a railroad crossing is up to BNSF and DOTD. Both entities have already closed similar crossings located at Jefferson Street and Prairie Street. 

Ledbetter, who is the representative for the Caroline Street area, said she was still attempting to contact people associated with DOTD in order to have a meeting about the issue. 

Other council members said that the issue seems to be mostly done, however. 

Another issue is that the city has several other projects on tap with DOTD, which Councilman Dustin Suire said have lagged due to the Caroline Street crossing.

“I’m just afraid we have other projects that need to get going and they are going to keep lagging with this issue,” Suire said. “I think we’re pressed for time.” 

Mayor Pro Tem Ricky Gonsoulin agreed, saying the city has expended all its resources to stop the closure from happening. 

“We’re going to have to sit back and wait to see what their call is,” Gonsoulin said. “I think it’s a closed case.”