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Antrell Williams

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Posts posted by Antrell Williams

  1. Baton Rouge Transportation

    in Baton Rouge

    Posted

    Of course I did.   That's an entirely different project from an urban freeway widening of a stretch of highway that is already beyond the designed capacity.  
    Widening an adequate highway from a city into a suburban area is (in a vacuum) the wrong place to do it if you are building ahead of demand.   That runs the risk of actually inducing demand for traffic.  
    Well that section of I-10 in Houston isn't really going into the more rural suburbs like the new project in Ascension is. It's pretty similar to the current section we're talking about over Perkins Rd. I'd be really uneasy about a 10 year long project to widen that stretch to 10 lanes and then have to watch my future children want to widen it to 14 or 16.

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  2. Gonzales & Ascension Parish

    in Baton Rouge

    Posted

    The state is looking into adding a new interchange in Ascension. 
    Cornerview Road (just south of it) -which seems to be supported by a local developer that doesn't appear to be very serious.  This would require a couple of new access roads and links to other highways.
    Highway 74 - which makes the most sense, but would require repurposing land currently used for trailer homes where the on-ramp would have to be.    Highway 74 is also a narrow  two lane road (although not as bad as most in AP) and will likely have to be widened to support this.
    Both alternatives would help get truck traffic to and from the industrial developments along LA 30 and enable better traffic flow to a future Mississippi River Bridge either at Bayou Goula or Plaquemine Point.  

     

     

    New I-10 interchange in Ascension Parish receives new look from DOTD

    https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/weather_traffic/article_fb0913da-5511-11eb-aec7-5313be01d833.html
     

    GONZALES — Perhaps a decade from now, 18-wheelers headed to Ascension Parish's industrial corridor will use a new Interstate 10 interchange and access road shooting them onto La. 30, the main street of parish chemical plants in Geismar.

    The proposed I-10 interchange southeast of Cornerview Road and related connector roads are receiving renewed scrutiny from state highway officials as parish government officials continue negotiations with major landowner and home builder, Grady Melancon, who owns the more than 600-acre Buzzard Roost property crucial for the plan to come to fruition, the officials and builder have said.

     

    Full article at link above.

     
    If there was a textbook example of how not to handle inevitable suburban sprawl, it's lower Ascension Parish (not that northern AP is much better).   
    I'm hoping that eastern Livingston,  West Baton Rouge, Pointe Coupee, Ibberville, and West Feliciana see what's happening in Ascension as a cautionary tale and develop plans to control and guide growth properly.   It will eventually happen for them too.     The parish is so poorly run, that I'm surprised anything happens when people flush their toilets.     
    I barely frequented southern AP but northern AP is horrendous. I've always preferred if they extended Hwy 42 to I-10 with an interchange.

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    Ascension Parish is not, and has never been a priority for state funding despite their growing population and spending power.    The few dollars they've gotten to widen various roads has been very hard fought and about 10-15 years after it was needed.
    I would imagine is also pretty cash poor as their aren't many large businesses pahing taxes compared to how bad the infrastructure is. Plus the state has such a massive backlog of projects.

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  4. Baton Rouge Transportation

    in Baton Rouge

    Posted

    I understand that it's about adding capacity/efficiency to a highway.   But is absolutely linked to the relationship between existing and anticipated demand for design capacity.   Widening I-10 though the city of Baton Rouge, like many urban freeway expansions, are textbook cases when additional capacity SHOULD be added.      Proactively widening suburban freeways or highways anticipating growth in those areas is exactly what we shouldn't be doing unless it' provides total system value (such as linking one congested highway to an alternative route).    It's a bad idea to widen a highway without demand for it unless the goal is to generate economic growth in the area - because it almost certainly will induce demand for lane capacity.
    The reason there's less risk for induced demand in Baton Rouge is because the traffic counts on that stretch of I-10 through Baton Rouge  is already far higher than it was ever designed to handle.  It's been that way for nearly 20 years.     The demand was already induced - likely accelerated when they widened outlying freeways like I-12 years back.  The demand is here.   We are being reactive by widening it now, not proactive....thus far less likely to induce additional demand.   In fact, from what I've read months back when they started talking about widening I10 was that the expected traffic counts for 2030 (the year the project will be complete) will be right at or slightly beyond what is optimal for an 8 lane freeway even if they elect not to widen the highway at all.    
    You don't predict more people to move to Dutchtown or areas further down I-10 when its widened? Some of the reasons why people don't, is the commute to BR. If they see a large widening project, I would predict developers and homebuyers to react accordingly.
    Plus I forgot about the current widening between Highland and Hwy 73 (or is it going to Hwy 30?).

    I-10 west in Houston is 26 lanes wide and is definitely at capacity. Would you suggest adding more lanes there? And if not, in your opinion, what's the difference between either scenario?

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  6. Baton Rouge Transportation

    in Baton Rouge

    Posted

    As I said...you can't induce demand that's already there.   The one time when it's appropriate to widen a freeway is to meet current demand.   The study that everyone notes about this indicates that clearly.  
    Louisiana is at no risk for inducing demand.  They never build anything with the future in mind...highways included.  [emoji38]
    Induced demand isn't about building for the future. It's about the unintended consequences of widening a road. If Airline is made into more of a controlled-access freeway, you will see induced demand as that investment will encourage development along the improved route, thus increasing demand for people to drive on that road.

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  7. Louisiana Weather

    in Louisiana

    Posted

    WINTER STORM WATCH for the BR Area on MONDAY
    Forecast Monday..BR High Temp only 30 ....Low 14!??  ALL TIME RECORD LOW Temp...2 degrees ! Set way back in 1899 on Feb 13th
    Shreveport High 25....Low Temp 9?? Yikes!
    6027eaa5e3075.image.jpg?resize=990,743&key=854deff0cdda9846089a25ac6ca2a665b4c8a28c03f8e1721d276b81f6aecb32
    EuIuN8DXIAEtSAv?format=png%26name=medium&key=373bd6d96a66a958b88aa04bc4be292e9e7920cf8911a663c57829bdfa0dfe98
    That's probably close to -10 or -15 here in Colorado. Hope yall get some snow!

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  8. Baton Rouge Transportation

    in Baton Rouge

    Posted

    I think it will help, but drivers won’t really notice until they get added capacity to I-10 west of College Drive.....which is 6-7 years away from completion.    And pure construction hell in the meantime.      
    The flyover will definitely help the I-12 W traffic in particular eventually.   The problem is that those commuters are already stopped (or nearly stopped) right around there for morning rush hour tie ups originating several miles ahead at Acadian where it narrows down to 3 westbound lanes.      So by itself, there is a nominal benefit to the having the flyover.   When taken with the other phases of the broader I-10 widening project (that will make traffic move faster through  there at rush hour) it will be very beneficial to have exiting cars not cross those lanes anymore.    Especially when the HOV lanes on I-12 come on line.     I do wish they were increasing I-10 west of college to 10 lanes instead of 8.  Or at least 8 lanes with a reversible center commuter lane.    I know a lot of westbound traffic exits at College, but you will still have approximately 6 westbound lanes merging into 4 westbound lanes around College. Which is better than 6 merging into 3 at Acadian the way it is now.   
    The broader project will be a huge impact and we will wonder how we survived without it once it’s done.....but it’s not going to be the silver bullet everyone wants it to be.    I am not even sure there will be space to expand this section beyond 10 lanes in the future.   This might be the only shot to ever widen that section again.   
     
    Rambling now:  
     
    There is a frequently cited study out there that is often misquoted or misunderstood in the media and on countless message boards like this one.  It states that adding lanes entices traffic flow and gridlock is the default state.   A lot of people quote that general statement but ignores the finer points.    The only widening projects that are appropriate are to meet current traffic demand.   This is a theoretical finding based on traffic models that can be tested by updating by a program at the drop of a hat.  But we don’t live in a simulation.   Simply adding lanes only when you need them at the click of a mouse isn’t practical in reality when the lead time on construction planning and funding is measured in decades, not months     
    I don’t want this to be considered a complaint against the concept of widening I-10.   The state is finally trying to improve a major infrastructure headache.    It definitely needs to happen for the sake of the state and the capitol area in particular.   I’m simply arguing that it may not go far enough unless they widen the deck enough where it can be easily re-stripped to meet future additional demand without a massive construction headache.  
    The state is only widening I-10  just enough to address current traffic needs, not future needs beyond 2030 (which is about when this project will be completed if we are lucky).   I know this is  the textbook example of when highway widening is appropriate and won’t encourage more traffic.    But it’s just not smart in this case given how long it takes to actually get funding and build the lanes through a highly congested urban area.    They are already going to go through this painful process of widening it.   Let’s just add enough space for 2 lanes in both directions instead of 1 in each direction...or at least 1 lane in both directions with a reversible HOV lane to downtown.  
    If this was a suburban highway (one not used for hurricane evacuations or linking two geographically isolated major metro areas in relatively close proximity) where an extra lane could be fairly easily/cheaply added  in the existing right of way, I wouldn’t support investing more than what was required to meet current traffic demand because it could encourage more sprawl and more traffic.  
    But this project is through an urban area that is already extremely difficult to build highways through....and one that can easily support a more dense development pattern that would generate more commuter and commercial traffic.  Most of the land that didn’t flood in 2016 is in the formal city limits of Baton Rouge.    So that’s where employers belong.   That’s where most people should (in theory) live if they could.    That’s where the focus on redevelopment and “densification” should be, with the industrial employers flanking the city on the west side.     The growth is happening either in the suburbs or in the city center...either way the traffic will be flowing on that stretch.  
    There are also very few alternative routes from the city to the industrial employers on the West Bank.   And unlike suburban sprawl, we actually need to encourage more economic development downtown and on the industrial facilities on the West Bank.   So we need to improve the main artery supporting those two  employment centers (downtown and the industrial sites on the West Bank).    A new bridge will be added eventually, but that is a multi-billion dollar endeavor.  Once a new bridge is in place around Plaquemine, Louisiana likely won’t ever build another bridge over the Mississippi River.     It’s almost as unlikely to widen an existing bridge given the cost overruns on the Huey Long project in Jefferson.    
     
    IMO, we need to move traffic efficiently to the bridges we have by widening I-10 and Airline as much as we can, and make sure the next (and last) new bridge to be constructed over that river contains more than enough space for the automotive and rail lanes the region will need for the next 100 years.    
    I had to find a way to respond to this while keeping all the text visible somehow lol.

    My morning commute luckily didn't involve I-10, I never particularly noticed a significant amount of cars swerving over to get to College Dr. causing enough traffic to warrant this project.

    I do believe in induced demand though. So the idea of expanding I-10 to anything beyond 10 lanes is definitely not my idea to alleviate traffic in that stretch. I've never heard anyone quite say that the default state is gridlock, but that the default state is "widen everything and it'll work."

    I'd argue that the state isn't widening it to meet traffic demand but public pressure. Or a mix of both. This project, once complete, likely won't change commute time for most people.There's alot of evidence out there that supports induced demand theory, is there anywhere that shows that *only* widening has had a positive effect on traffic flow over an extended period? How do they compare to Boston's central artery, Seattle's burying of their waterfront freeways, etc.

    I feel like the massive political capital and time and resources and money would be better spent on other projects supporting I-10 and our current arteries. Not saying that I-10 should never be addressed but I'm severely against a 10 lane freeway cutting through urban Baton Rouge.

    You mention that we should be adding density yet you seem to correlate that to more commuter traffic. If true, do you not think that more density would encourage more people in the area to drive or walk or bike there as opposed to driving to a further destination? People who visited (former) Chelsea's under the overpass all seemed to be from the neighborhood or close by. Same with Duvic's. Places like Perkins Rowe seem to have a far worse impact on traffic from my perspective.

    Houston has a 26 lane Katy freeway that is bumper to bumper, even in non-peak hours as I've been stuck in traffic on weekend nights, way out near Katy or Memorial. Upgrading LA 1 to a freeway from Port Allen down to I-310 seems like a more complete idea. You can remove much of the traffic from I-10, and it can function as a loop as well as improving infrastructure for the industry on the west bank. I think the idea that we need to increase capacity as much as possible for the bridges is a wrong one. The reason is that we have almost no population on the west bank. If we can move much of that traffic commuting via I-10, to using surface roads or transit, you open up capacity for a percentage of people who can't use either of those means.

    Also, in my opinion, one of the main reasons why the Baton Rouge region has such terrible traffic is having to rely on I-10 as an intracity mode of transportation. It should be used for cross town trips or commuting. Not to go from Target to Pluckers.

    Is there a reason why mass transit was never mentioned in your reply? I see that as being a major major part of traffic alleviation for the region.


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  9. Baton Rouge Transportation

    in Baton Rouge

  10. River Park

    in Baton Rouge

    Posted

    Hello strangers! My buddy just left Denver and said something about a Chinese company buying it and putting some sort of industrial plant there. Was sad to hear.

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  16. Louisiana Sports Talk

    in Louisiana

    Posted

    Congrats to LSU's best coach on campus, Will Wade and the Tigers basketball team. Looks like we will have our first SEC title of the decade providing that we can beat a 0-18 (league play) Venderbilt team. From Waters, to Javonte to Emmitt and Naz, this team is the best team I've ever known to play at LSU. Hopefully we can keep Wade for 2 or 3 more decades at this rate. 

  18. The IBM Block

    in Baton Rouge

    Posted

    Lol! Falling apart? 
    It's an old building, gates break, dirty, dusty, multiple parts have been leased out to other companies, the parking lots could hold maybe 2500 cars, most you will see is a few hundred.

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  19. The IBM Block

    in Baton Rouge

    Posted

    First time I can say I agree with the comment section. But corporate welfare has gotten completely out of control. The IBM building in Boulder is practically empty and falling apart.

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