As if the holes in the 1.5-mile road aren’t bad enough, the recent bout of hurricanes dug their nails even deeper into the tattered asphalt leaving monstrous pits in some places and barely a road in others.
Even scarier than the tire-swallowing potholes is the sight of the mighty Tchefuncte River practically lapping at the road’s edge.
 The Tchefuncte River is eating away Louisiana Highway 1077 in Madisonville. After Gustav and Ike flooded the road for several weeks straight, much of it is now riddled with deep fissures. (Staff Photo by Chad Ruiz) |
If it’s not a monstrous hurricane bearing down on his tiny seaside town, it’s strong southerly winds crashing Lake Pontchartrain’s waters into its southern tip, where the public boat launch and lighthouse reside and known by locals as the point.
The two-lane highway snakes its way to the point with the river on its east and wetlands on its west, basically surrounded by water.
Even the slightest southerly wind pushes lake and river water onto the road, making it impossible for commuters with anything other than a raised vehicle to get to the boat launch.
It’s worse during strong southerly winds that last several days. That’s when the battered highway takes a beating with deep water ebbing over it for several days, enlarging existing holes and creating new ones.
Since his mayoral reign began 31 years ago, and his residency even longer, Gitz has watched La. 1077 grow increasingly closer to the Tchefuncte.
“It’s probably underwater about 100 days every year,” Gitz said.
And every year, the Department of Transportation and Development revisits the roadway and fills in the holes, Gitz said.
“It’s deteriorated a lot,” local fisherman Jeremy Smith said. “Especially after the storms, it’s messed the road up a lot.”
A road once connected the strip of land the lighthouse is on to the boat launch, Gitz said. It’s now covered by several feet of water.
Smith, like many others, worry the same fate is in store for La. 1077.
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