Louisiana Secretary of Transportation and Development Joe Donahue informed a large crowd at the Olla Town Hall Monday night that the state has determined the intersection at US 165 and LA 127 in Olla does not meet the federal requirements for the installation of a traffic signal.

He said the state will instead perform work at the intersection in the coming year to allow it to be more visible with additional signage, traffic lane markings and brighter LED blinking lights while they continue to monitor the situation to see if conditions change to warrant a traffic signal in the future.

The crowd of about 50 residents and local and state officials were not pleased with the decision but state officials did agree to look at additional data related to traffic that is bypassing the intersection to see if the additional traffic count will be high enough to meet federal requirements for a traffic light.

A more detailed story will be in the September 4 issue of The Jena Times Olla-Tullos-Urania Signal.