DENHAM SPRINGS — Years of construction along Juban Road are causing frustration for drivers, and now safety concerns are emerging. One woman says a hidden hazard left her paying a hefty price.

Sarah Diodene says she was driving near the intersection of U.S. 190 and Juban Road Thursday night when she hit a broken curb.

“All of a sudden, next thing I know, the road kind of curved, and I hit it,” Diodene said. “And I didn’t see it. There’s no light. I wasn’t speeding, I wasn’t on my phone.”

The spot is now guarded by a single traffic cone, a small warning that wasn’t there Thursday night. 

“When I drove back through this morning to go back to my car, the construction company placed a cone in front of the edge so they knew, they knew it was a hazard,” Diodene said.

She says the dark construction zone made the curb almost impossible to see. When she hit it, both right-side tires blew out.

“I had to leave my car overnight at a gas station, and it had to be towed this morning to Firestone,” Diodene said.

She later learned she wasn’t the only driver to experience the same problem.

“When I walked in to thank them for letting my car stay overnight, she said that I was probably about the 10th person in the last two days that that happened to,” Diodene said.

Now, Diodene is paying over $900 for a brand-new set of tires.

“Now [I'm] having to pay for four tires,” Diodene said.

The Juban Road project has been under construction since 2019. Diodene, who drives the route every day, says it feels like the work will never end.

“Sometimes it looks like it’s getting better, and then it just, it doesn’t. There’s really no end in sight. Honestly,” Diodene said.

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) says the estimated completion of the project, depending on weather, is the end of November.