Opened in 1954 along River Road surrounded by the cane fields of St. James Parish, Hymel’s Seafood Restaurant is one of those out-of-the-way Louisiana eateries famous for their fried catfish and for a no-frills vibe that draws all walks of life, from farmer and plant worker to local politico.
But 31-year-old manager Luke Arceneaux, who has worked at Hymel’s most years of his life since he was 15, said the restaurant has had a tough few years that the recent closure of the Sunshine Bridge has only worsened.
Arceneaux said he's hopeful that the opening of two lanes of the shuttered Mississippi River bridge Saturday morning will mark a return to better days for the restaurant.
“Two lanes is fine with us. Any ‘open’ is fine with us,†Arceneaux said. “It’s got to be better than where we're at now.â€
State highway officials announced on Thursday that two lanes of the four-lane bridge would be reopened two weeks earlier than expected after a complete closure that lasted a month and a half. A crane barge hit the bridge Oct. 12 and damaged a key weight-bearing beam on the bridge’s southwest flank that was replaced this week.
Louisiana highway officials said Thursday they plan to reopen a portion of the Sunshine Bridge on Saturday, seven weeks after shuttering the s…
Rodney Mallett, spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, said the bridge will reopen at 7 a.m. Extended hours for the Plaquemine ferry, which went into place after the bridge closed, will remain in effect for the time being, Mallett said.
“We will monitor traffic before making any changes,†the DOTD spokesman said.
Although at least one suit has been filed to try to recoup economic losses from the bridge closing, some legal experts suggested maritime law will make it extremely tough to recover any compensation.
Yet, the bridge closure has altered business and commuting patterns in ways both big and small, forcing many to take detours of an hour or more to the Veterans Memorial Bridge down river near Gramercy or upriver to the I-10 Bridge in Port Allen.
For Hymel’s restaurant, Arceneaux said, the closure put an end to visits from regulars who live across the river in Donaldsonville and didn’t have a far drive when the Sunshine Bridge was open.
At the Raylin House, a bed-and-breakfast in Donaldsonville, the closure meant the loss of corporate clients working at area chemical plants who would rent one of the four suites for weeks at a time.
“Normally we’re booked probably till about a week before Christmas and I’m down to one tenant,†said Jeffery Bean, 51, a Donaldsonville resident who owns the 1870 Queen Anne-style home and lives next door.
He said he’s tried to make lemonade from the lemons the bridge has dealt him, using the down time at Raylin House to do upgrades and improvements he can’t take on when his rooms are full.
Bean said he is hopeful business will pick up with the bridge’s partial reopening, but also has other reasons to be thankful. He also runs a hair salon in Baton Rouge and, for 23 years, has made the 40-minute commute from Donaldsonville and over the Sunshine Bridge to Baton Rouge to get the salon running by 8:30 a.m.
Though he’s down to three days a week at the salon, the bridge detour traffic has made his commutes more arduous than usual and he has to leave much earlier.
“The drive has been what’s been murder because it takes two hours to get to work,†Bean said.
Since Nov. 5, public schools in Donaldsonville and Ascension Parish Head Start have been starting five minutes to 30 minutes later in the morning.
On Friday, Ascension Parish school officials welcomed the bridge’s partial reopening. All employees will transition to normal schedules by Dec. 10. However, students in Donaldsonville city schools will remain on their modified schedule through the holiday break.
“We will use this time to gauge impacts before resuming normal school schedules for students,†Superintendent David Alexander said in a statement that went out to parents.
He added that a decision about school hours in January will be announced before students return from the holiday.
The Wag-A-Pak convenience store on La. 3127 in Vacherie is one of a handful of businesses that sit on an otherwise lonely stretch of the bridge detour route that many commuters have been taking through western St. James Parish to reach the Veterans Memorial Bridge.
Traffic piles up each morning and evening near the store at the intersection of La. 3127 and La. 20. Wag-A-Pak would seem to be the rare business that might have seen a boost in business from the Sunshine Bridge closure.
But manager June LeBlanc, 56, said that after a serious bump in business the first two weeks after the closure, sales have dropped back closer to normal. Drivers just aren’t pulling over, she said, in all the traffic every morning and night.
“It’s the same like it was before,†she said.
LeBlanc, who was stocking tobacco products Friday with two co-workers, said she didn’t expect a major change in business once the bridge reopens but hopes for a drop in traffic on nearby La. 20. The now busy rural highway is carrying drivers from Houma and Thibodaux who would otherwise be headed to the Sunshine Bridge, she said.
She said she hopes the newly opened lanes will cut the 20-minute drive that she now has make daily to travel between the store and her home in Vacherie a mile and a half away.
