Acadiana’s Worst Intersections – Dave’s Top 5

A while back, I moved to the wonderful sprawling countryside of Youngsville (before it blew up in population and popularity) and decided one night to visit Acadian Village with the family. On the way back, I decided to avoid the Mall traffic and take the back road down East Broussard. That was a mistake. Everyone else seemed to have the same idea and traffic was backed up from the Kaliste Saloom intersection almost to Johnston. Well, many years later, and more lessons learned, I'm still avoiding that area until they complete a roundabout at that location. If you live in the nearby apartments, my hat is off to ya, and don't worry, they'll be finished quicker than a Camellia Bridge.

For all you Harry Potter fans, the light at Evangeline Thruway at Simcoe headed North is kind of like platform 9 3/4 at the train station. It really comes up on you right after you pass through the 2nd Street light. Nestled behind some beautiful oak trees, if you're not careful, you might miss it. I had the pleasure of driving down the thruway and breezing right through the Simcoe light. Needless to say, that's the last time I wasn't aware of that light.

Forget the fact that you're not taking a Left from Bendel onto Pinhook, just try to squeeze your car turning right along with the other lane while watching people turning from Pinhook cut across your lane. I wouldn't have put a CVS at that intersection, I'd put an auto repair shop instead. Then when the little hand on the clock says 5pm, just forget about turning onto Pinhook altogether.

With the improvements to the Johnston and Camellia intersection (as well as the improvements to the timing of the lights), the intersection is moving more traffic than ever before. That being said, every time I'm in the intersection, I can't help but feel like I'm in the wrong lane no matter where I'm going. If you're turning onto Johnston coming from the River Ranch area, you have the potential to have oncoming traffic on both sides of you which is very confusing if you've never been through that intersection before. All in all, much nicer with the new intersection and traffic flow, I just close my eyes until it's my turn to go.

In basic driving class, we all learned that it was illegal to cross a solid white line, which is what makes merging easy from Ambassador Caffery onto Johnston…unless you're not familiar with that rule. In the interest of all those who travel that route, please DO NOT STOP in the merge lane as you will more than likely cause an accident instead of avoid one. If the solid white line rule isn't clear enough, then by all means, be sure to read the sign as you're approaching the merge point that says "DO NOT STOP"