‘Light The Highway For Ramsie’ going to Washington D.C.

A year has come and gone since the campaign “Light the Highway for Ramsie” was introduced to the world by Sherie Dubois.
A year ago this month, Dubois spoke to the Vermilion Parish Police Jury and state highway officials about what it would take to put lights along U.S. Hwy. 167 between Maurice and Abbeville.
She stated the route was too dark and needed to be lit.
She began the campaign “Light the Highway for Ramsie” because of the death of North Vermilion senior Ramsie Baumgardner.
Baumgardner was traveling on Hwy. 167 and was hit head-on by a drunk driver traveling in the wrong lane. Baumgardner’s vehicle collided head-on with the car traveling in the wrong lane. Both drivers were killed.
“It is without question that Hwy. 167 is way too dark at night,” wrote Dubois. “The recent tragic loss of our Ramsie has sparked something in me. I thought to myself over and over, ‘She had to see him coming.’”
Since that meeting a year ago, the Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) submitted a cost to the police jury for lights and three J-Turns between Maurice and Abbeville.
DOTD submitted a letter to the police jury informing them of the cost of lighting on Hwy. 167 would cost $1.4 million for every mile of lights. So the total cost for lights between Maurice and Abbeville would be around $9 million, according to DOTD.
Building J-Turns at the intersections of La. 696, La. 697, and La. 699 would cost around $4.6 million.
So, three J-Turns and lights would cost the state around $17 million.
Well, instead of waiting around to see if the state would spend $15 million on making Hwy. 167 safer, Police Juror Dane Hebert took it upon himself to go higher than the state level.
When he went to Washington D.C. with a group of officials from Vermilion and Cameron parishes last month, he visited with Congressman Clay Higgins and educated him on the dangers of driving on Hwy. 167.
Higgins instructed Hebert and others to write letters to their political representatives in Washington, D.C., asking for funds to light up Hwy. 167.
On Wednesday night at the police jury meeting, the jurors approved a letter to be sent to Higgins.
The letter educates Higgins on the accidents that have occurred on Hwy. 167, especially the two head-on accidents that have killed four people, including three North Vermilion students.
The letter states the total costs of the lights and three J-Turns at about $17 million. So the police jury is asking for $17 million from Washington to pay for everything.
“Any help you can provide to improve the safety of the road for our residents is appreciated,” writes Jason Picard, the police jury president.
Also, State Rep. Ryan Bourrique sent Sen. Bill Cassidy, Sen. John Kennedy and Higgins his letter.
“It never hurts to ask,” Hebert said at the end of the police jury meeting.