SORRENTO A parish project to replace an aging drainage culvert under Main Street in Sorrento is set to begin Tuesday, depending on the weather.

But with the tropical activity in the Gulf, the project will be taken on a day-by-day basis, Sorrento Mayor Mike Lambertsaid.

"We're not going to take one of our main (street) arteries out" in the face of possible severe weather, Lambert said."We'll monitor the progress of the storm and see what happens."

Once the project begins, the work at the Main Street/Lee Street intersection is expected to take six weeks to complete, he said.

The old culvert will be replaced with a big box culvert to improve drainage, saidMartin McConnell, public information officer with Ascension Parish government.

The work in Sorrento is part of an initiative to gradually replace old culverts "all over the parish," McConnell said.

All residents in East Ascension pay a half-cent sales tax for drainage. Parish government handles most drainage problems inside and outside the corporate limits of the east bank's municipalities.

On Tuesday, the parish is expected to be mobilizing equipment and putting materials in place at the site, the mayor said.

The project was scheduled for the summer, so it wouldn't interfere with school buses, he said.

If the weather doesn't impede the culvert project this week, drivers in Sorrento should expect to detour on John LeBlanc Boulevard. Lambert said small-vehicle, local traffic can also detour from Railroad Street to Braud Street.

Other drainage culverts crossing under Main Street are also due to be replaced in the future, Lambert said.

"This is a maintenance project, being proactive," Lambert said of the parish's drainage work.

Follow Ellyn Couvillion on Twitter, @EllynCouvillion.

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Sorrento to see start of Main Street drainage project, watching weather - The Advocate