Youngsville to Spend $200 Million for Needed Traffic Construction Projects

The city of Youngsville is growing at an incredible rate.

If you drive through the city, it's easy to see just how true that is. New construction projects from businesses to roads is evident of the progress happening in the southernmost municipality of Lafayette Parish.

And, of course, the expansion of the Youngsville Sports Complex has residents and those in the surrounding communities very excited about the new improvements that include a new amphitheater park, 4 High School/Collegiate baseabll fields, and much more.

Some traffic numbers featured in this article written by The Advocate's Megan Wyatt highlights a need for more money to be pumped into traffic construction in Youngsville.

People spend about 1,000 hours stuck in traffic in the city limits of Youngsville each day, and that's projected to become 3,000 hours per day by 2050 unless there's significant intervention in the booming bedroom community. (Also) Youngsville's population has quadrupled in the past 20 years, according to Census data, from just under 4,000 residents in 2000 to nearly 16,000 in 2020. If the city continues to develop at a similar rate and density, it will reach a maximum capacity of about 47,000 residents by 2050, according to the master plan.

The traffic figures were released by Lafayette-based engineering firm Neel-Schaffer Inc. The Youngsville City Council has approved a master transportation plan developed by the firm that includes nearly $200 million in projects, which includes a $22.1 million widening project for a three-mile stretch of Verot School Road and a $21.8 million project to extend Langlinais Road by two miles, as pointed out by The Advocate article.

"Youngsville is popping!" said Mayor Ken Ritter to the the Louisiana House and Senate Transportation Committees he tesitfied before them in May as they approved the city to use a collaborative design and construction method (CMAR) on the Youngsville Highway Widening & Fortune Roundabout and Extension Projects.

Mayor Ritter also recently thanked Mayor President Josh Guillory and our respective councils (Youngsville & Parish) for their "cooperative spirit" in approving the widening of Bonin Road between Fortune Road and Ambassador Caffery Parkway.

"This is an unincorporated road in the parish but it impacts everyone that lives in Youngsville," wrote Mayor Ritter on his Facebook page.

Also, riding through Youngsville, drivers will notice the city's efforts to be bicycle-friendly. Vijay Kunada is the traffic operations engineer who developed the master plan. In the article, Kunada also points to public transit, ridesharing, carpooling, biking and walking as part of "a long-term strategy" in dealing with city traffic issues as Younsgville continues to grow.

It's an exciting time to live in Youngsville as city and parish leaders take on the challenge of growing as efficiently and painlessly as possible.