FERRIDAY, La. – Thanks to repaving work now being done, the thousands of vehicles that travel North E.E. Wallace Boulevard each day should soon have a smoother ride.

Starting last week, crews from W.E. Blaine Construction of Natchez began patching worn spots of the road north of Kentucky Avenue.

That work is being done as part of a $600,000 Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development overlaying project.

Once that stage of the project is complete, crews will overlay that entire 1.3-mile section of road with new asphalt.

The last time E.E. Wallace Boulevard was resurfaced was in the mid-1980s.

&uot;It’s been quite a few years since any work was done on it, and the roadway had deteriorated somewhat,&uot; said Ricky Moon of the DOTD regional office in Chase.

About 13,000 vehicles travel E.E. Wallace Boulevard every day, according to estimates by the DOTD.

Given good weather, the project should be finished by February, Moon said.

But Project Engineer Gary Eldridge, who works out of the department’s project office in Ferriday, joked that the crews could use a little rain.

&uot;We worked steadily through the summer because we didn’t get any rain,&uot; Eldridge said. &uot;We could actually use the rest.&uot;