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HLS 26RS-377 ORIGINAL
2026 Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. 703
BY REPRESENTATIVE MCMAKIN
TRANSPORTATION DEPT: Requires residential notice before road closure
1 AN ACT
2 To amend and reenact R.S. 32:261, relative to provision of notice of road closures by the
3 Department of Transportation and Development; to require the department provide
4 notice to the public within a certain distance of a road closure; to provide for
5 exceptions; and to provide for related matters.
6 Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
7 Section 1. R.S. 32:261 is hereby amended and reenacted to read as follows:
8 §261. Authority to prohibit use of road
9 A. The department may prohibit the operation of vehicles upon any highway
10 of this state or impose restrictions as to the weight of vehicles to be operated upon
11 any highway whenever any such highway, because of its substandard condition or
12 because of deterioration, rain, snow, or other climatic conditions, or construction
13 thereof, or because of traffic conditions thereon, will be seriously damaged or
14 destroyed, or the public endangered by the use of vehicles thereon unless such use
15 is prohibited or the permissible weights thereof reduced.
16 B. The department shall issue a notice on the official Department of
17 Transportation and Development website and mail notice of the closure to addresses
18 within five hundred feet of road closures resulting from the authority granted in
19 Subsection A of this Section, unless the road closure is caused by a traffic collision,
20 medical emergency, or serious road hazard.
Page 1 of 2
CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored
are additions.
HLS 26RS-377 ORIGINAL
HB NO. 703
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HB 703 Original 2026 Regular Session McMakin
Abstract: Requires the Department of Transportation and Development to notify residents
of certain road closures via the department's website and by mail.
Present law authorizes the Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) to
prohibit the operation of vehicles on state highways due to substandard conditions,
deterioration of the road, rain, snow, other climatic conditions, constructions, or because
traffic conditions threaten public safety.
Proposed law requires the DOTD to issue a notice on the official DOTD website and by mail
to addresses within 500 ft. of road closures based on the department's authority as outlined
in present law, unless the road closure is caused by a traffic collision, medical emergency,
or serious road hazard.
(Amends R.S. 32:261)
Page 2 of 2
CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored
are additions.