Linville Fire Tower road out — again

Everyone knows how bad the parish roads are. Linville Fire Tower Road has had more than its share of closures over the past several years. Some five years ago, it was closed for a year or longer, awaiting bridge repair of the “Miller Bridge” crossing over Bayou De’Loutre.

Within the past several months, it was closed again for more bridge repair and was closed for several weeks at that time.

In December of 2024, it was closed again, according to the UPPJ by order of the State DOTD due to the dangerous conditions of not a bridge, but culverts near its intersection with Love Road and about a mile from the Liberty Baptist Church. It remains closed today.

Most Haile and Linville area residents rely heavily upon this shortcut down Fire Tower Road to Farmerville and West Monroe. Emergency vehicles, including ambulances, fire trucks, and law enforcement vehicles, also do.

Last summer, a visitor to a local resident on Harrel Road suffered an accidental gunshot wound. The ambulance made it as far as the Miller Bridge from the Farmerville side, only to find it closed. By the time the ambulance adjusted and rerouted, losing 45 minutes to an hour in response time, the lady had bled to death.

In January this year, a local resident’s house caught fire after the most recent “culvert” closure UPPJ says was ordered by DOTD. When volunteer firemen responded by detouring several miles around the barricade, arrived at the station, mustered the equipment, and responded, again detouring several miles, the house was lost. The estimated delay in reaching the fire due to the culvert barricade was one hour.

The Gazette obtained a copy of the DOTD closure letter and what it actually revealed was that in December 2023, more than a year ago, the DOTD informed the UPPJ that the road crossing at the culverts was substandard and remedial action was required, even outlining the options the UPPJ could take to keep the road open. After one year, the DOTD inspected the crossing again, found no action had been taken by the UPPJ, and then ordered the closure of that road site. The UPPJ then placed barricades at that site, closing the entire road at those culverts, instead of taking an offered option by the DOTD – partial barricades, load limits, and single lane traffic, pending culvert replacement. This would at least let passenger and emergency vehicles through. Still, the UPPJ has taken no action.

The UPPJ has the equipment and labor to replace culverts, which it does routinely across the parish. This is not a major span or a bridge; it is a rip-out, replacement, recover, and resurfacing.

As evidenced by the photo above, local residents have had enough. This may backfire on the UPPJ’s efforts to renew expiring road taxes, which were defeated last November. As one resident said, “If the jury cannot maintain something this basic, why give them more money to waste?”