LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) – The traffic on Johnston Street, or U.S. Highway 167, south of the Acadiana Mall can be very fast.

And at high speeds, it can be hard for vehicles trying to turn left.

“When there’s a crash, especially once you get out toward East Broussard and out toward Maurice, their accidents are really severe because of the 65 mile per hour speed limit,” said DOTD District Administrator Bill Oliver.

The DOTD wants to make the road safer. Starting next year, the DOTD will build J-Turns 
and overlay U.S. 167 between Ambassador Caffery Parkway and the outskirts of Maurice.

“Anytime you got to cross over it’s like Highway 90 you’re in jeopardy and a lot of accidents so J-Turns would be nice,” said Greg Bean of Abbeville. 

DOTD District Administrator Bill Oliver said the project will be similar to the recently completed J-Turn project on Highway 90 in St. Mary Parish.    

“We’ve shown that J-Turns can decrease accidents somewhere around 25 percent,” Oliver said.

Oliver said about 30 J-Turns will be installed on a 5.3 mile stretch of U.S. 167. The total cost will be around $10 million.

The project will also include longer deceleration lanes into the J-Turns to give traffic more time to slow down.

“The turning lanes have to be longer. I think that would help a lot,” said Barbara Champagne of Lafayette. “Anything they can do would be better than what it is now.”

The DOTD plans to get bids in January. The work is expected to start in spring 2019.

The DOTD said the project should take about 18 months to complete. Officials estimate the work will be finished in late 2020.