The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1918-11-02
OLD SPANISH TRAIL
TO Be USED AGAIN.
Surfaced Road in q Few
Months from River to
Texas Line.

If plans Of the State Highway
DepaItme can De CatIlCd out.
Louisiana will, within A few
months, possess an uubroken sur
faced highway from New Orleans
TO the Texas line with the possible
exceptions of the stretch ACROSS
the Sabine swamp, IN Calcasieu
parish, and four miIee III Jefferson
parish. Duncan Buie, highway
engineer, made this statement IN a
discussion OF the present status of
good roads work III the state.
This road il the Od Spanish
Trail, II is a matter of common
knowledge what geographical 10.
sltlon in the slate this line of road
occupies, az also for ihe gfeatei
part tho state Of completion in
which most of the road stande.
But, according TO the highway de
partment head, there is d tendency
on the part of travellers 10 use The
clicultous route formerly connect
ing New Otleans with Morgan
City by way of Donaldaonviile,
rather than 10 take advantage Of
the better tbofoughfare and shorter
route that bae practically been
completed by the department with
| LINKS of paTleh built roads.
Mr. Buie refers TO the route,
which, starting from LuIlng on The
! Mississippi river in ST. CHARLES
parish, crosses this parish, and
strikes a fairly direct line 10 Ba
you Lafourche, thence 10 Thlbo
daux, aud on to Morgan City. a
phase of the general route, except
for stretch OF few miles be.
tween Raceland and Houma,
which Mr.. Buie desisnales as
most desirable for travel to and
ftom points in the southern par
ishee, does not contemplate follow
ing Bayou Latou,che to Thibo
daux. Mr. Buie says, however,
that a part of this stretch from
Raceland TO Houma Ia "green'
| aud though it eau be safely tray
eled in good weather, at the pres
eDt time, following three weeks Of
raihe wet weather, il is not en-
tireIy satisfactory. 1t is pointed
out. however, that the ChacahUula
swamp on the circuitous route il
practically never passable for au
tomobiles
"Surfaciug of the stretch he
tween Racelaud aud iIouma will
make the short route eeryiceable
in all conditions Of weather. said
Mr. Buie "Sume parts OF the
stretch will probably be surfaced
within ninety daye, another pnr
ZION may be not so soon. We are
dependent entirely upon govern
ment piiorltles in the matter Of
building material and are handi
capped oIdiDgly'
TetrebonDe parish is going
ahead with its plans for sill fur
ther shortening of The route. THIS
project, receiving impetus through
the Houma Association of Com
merce, is the working out of
route which, leaving Houma,
would strike toward Morgan City
along Black Bayou to Gibson. A
still further shortening plan is to
take advantage Of the material
from the Frank B. Williams Cy
press Company canal under con
struction east of Morgan City
which would tend 10 cut off half a
dozen miles Of the road now run
nlng from Gibson west.
Referring generally to the good
roads work in Louisiana, Mr.. Buie
said his ambition was to complete
trunk lines as follows.
New Orleans to Lake Charles
and on to the Texas line; Lake
Charles to Monroe, through Alex
andria, and on to the Arkansas
linz; New Orleans to Shreveport;
Shreveport to Monroe and on TO
the Mississippi river. "If we can
get these roads," said Mr.. Buie,
connecting shorter roads necessari
~ will follow"
According TO Mr.. Buie's latest
report to the Board of State Engi
neers, there are nearly 1000 miles
of surfaced roads constructed or
under construction in Louisiana.
with over 500 more miles surveyed,
and survey of over 150 more miles
applied for Times PIcaynne.