Scott v. City of West Monroe

95 So. 2d 343, 1957 La. App. LEXIS 809
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 26, 1957
DocketNo. 8629
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 95 So. 2d 343 (Scott v. City of West Monroe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Scott v. City of West Monroe, 95 So. 2d 343, 1957 La. App. LEXIS 809 (La. Ct. App. 1957).

Opinion

AYRES, Judge.

The object of this action is to have decreed null and void Ordinance No. 1212 of the City of West Monroe which prohibits-parking of all types of vehicles or things on Cypress Street between its intersections, with North Seventh Street and with Bridge Street, and on Bridge Street from the new traffic bridge on the Ouachita River and the street’s intersection with Cypress Street, as-well as on the east side of Cypress Street between its intersection with Natchitoches- and Bridge Streets.

The plaintiffs are eight owners of businesses located on property abutting and fronting on Cypress Street, within the zone in which parking has been prohibited by the aforesaid ordinance. The ordinance is attacked a9 an unreasonable, arbitrary and unfair regulation of traffic, the enforcement of which would be injurious to petitioners and others similarly situated, and would impair their property rights. Additionally, it was contended that the ordinance violates Article 1, Section 2, of the Louisiana Constitution — LSA providing that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, except by due process of law.

In an answer to a rule for a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of the provisions of said ordinance, the defendant City denied ‘that the ordinance was unreasonable, unfair or arbitrary or that its enforcement would be oppressive, and alleged that, due to the great and constantly increasing volume of traffic on this street, which, as a part of U. S. Highway 80, formed a main thoroughfare, the enactment and enforcement of the ordinance, in the interest of public safety, convenience and welfare, was not only imperative but a proper and valid exercise of its police power.

Defendant’s contentions were upheld by the trial court, and from a judgment denying a preliminary injunction, plaintiffs have appealed.

[345]*345The facts, as established by the record, are not seriously disputed, and may be briefly stated. Cypress Street runs in a .■general northwest and southeast -course from Wood Street to its intersection- with North Seventh Street. Between Wood and Bridge Streets, Cypress is of the usual type •of a two-lane street. Continuing from Bridge Street to North Seventh Street, it is a four-lane thoroughfare having a width •of- 40 feet. Bridge Street, only two blocks in length, is likewise a four-lane street with a width of 47 feet. Bridge and Cypress-Streets, for a distance .of approximately -one and one-half miles, constitute a portion of U. S. Highway 80.

Important in the determination of the reasonableness vel non of the ordinance is-the volume of traffic on that portion of the street and/or highway where parking is prohibited. The evidence adduced on the trial showed that in. 19S0, at the east end of-Bridge Street, the traffic volume was 18,070 vehicles every 24 hours; 19,600 daily in December, 1953, and 21,000 daily in Féb-ruary, 1955; that on Cypress Street, between Crosley and Vernon Streets, in the ■second block northwest of the intersection ■of Bridge and Cypress Streets, in 1950 the daily traffic volume was 11,170, which, in February, 1955, had increased to 13,260 vehicles daily; that immediately beyond the •intersection of Cypress and North Seventh Streets and just beyond the northwest end ■of the four-lane thoroughfare, the daily traffic count in' 1950 was 7,530; in December, 1953, 8,220, and in 1954, 9,370.

On May 10 and 11, 1955, a Tuesday and .a Wednesday, covering two periods of 24 hours each, an hourly count of the traffic volume was made at two points on Cypress Street, the first, between Vernon and Cros-ley Streets in the second block beyond the ■intersection of Bridge and Cypress Streets, .and the second, between Travis and Drago Streets, a point approximately midway between . the approach to the new traffic 'bridge and North Seventh Street; At the -first of these locations, on May 10, the ve-hide count for the 24-hour period was 14,-409 and on May 11, 14,421. At the second point, the count on May 10 was 13,310 and on May 11, 13,666. At the first of these points, the tabulation showed that between 6:00 o’clock A.M. and 8:00 o’clock P.M. the traffic count ranged from 692 vehicles to 1,148 per hour, and at the second point the count between the same hours ranged from 574 to 1,049 vehicles per hour.

The first of these tabulations shows there has been a general and constant increase in volume of traffic on this street. Before undertaking the widening of this street, it was concluded by the Department of Highways that, in' order to properly expedite traffic through this area, a four-lane highway or thoroughfare was required. To permit the parking of vehicles on each side of this highway would be to reduce a four-lane highway to a fwo-lane highway and return to the conditions as existed prior to the widening of this highway. The traffic analyst of the Department of Highways testified that the highways were planned to expedite traffic and not for parking purposes.

The hourly computation of traffic herein-above referred to shows that, during normal -business hours ai either location, the traffic count was- never less than 669 vehicles per hour and ranged to as many as 1,148 per hour, or, ranged from an average of one vehicle approximately every 5Yz seconds to one vehicle during every three seconds, or, from an average of one vehicle every 22 seconds in each of the four lanes to one vehicle every 12 seconds "in each lane. Therefore, if the traffic were confined to only two lanes, as would result from parking on both sides of the street, as sought by plaintiffs, the average would range for each lane, or for each direction, from one vehicle every eleven seconds to one for every six seconds, not excluding stoppage for signal lights. From this it was reasonable to conclude some provision was necessary- to relieve the traffic congestion. existing at the time and as was constantly increasing.'-

[346]*346Moreover, the record discloses that a vast percentage of the traffic accidents in the City of West Monroe occurred on the streets wherein parking is prohibited by this ordinance. The minimizing of such accidents is sufficient to motivate the Council in the enactment of the ordinance under attack.

It is conceded, and correctly, so, that a municipality may, under its police power, regulate in a reasonable manner vehicular traffic on its streets. For instance, in City of Shreveport v. Breazeale, 191 La. 1088, 187 So. 33, 34, in construing an ordinance regulating the operation of vehicles transporting persons for hire, where it had been charged that the ordinance deprived defendant of his property without due process of law, in violation of Art. 1, Sec. 2, (the Bill of Rights) of the Louisiana Constitution, as well as the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, it was stated:

“There is no merit in these attacks. That a municipal corporation may, under it police power, regulate in a reasonable manner vehicular traffic on its streets is well settled by the jurisprudence of this country. It has been so held by every court, so far as we know, which has spoken on the subject.”

It was also said in City of New Orleans v. Schick, 167 La. 674, 120 So. 47, 49:

“The police power, as generally defined, extends to the protection of the lives, health, and property of the citizens, and to the preservation of good order and the public morals. The entire property and business within the local jurisdiction of the several states is within its control.

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Bluebook (online)
95 So. 2d 343, 1957 La. App. LEXIS 809, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scott-v-city-of-west-monroe-lactapp-1957.