Jump to content

Other Cities And States

all2neat

By all2neat
in Baton Rouge

Recommended Posts

all2neat Hamlet

all2neat

Posted
Posted

This is a bit of a rant / ramble.

I've been on a road trip since last Friday and many of these things we already know but being out of town shows you how pathetic our infrastructure is in the Baton Rouge area.

Most of Alabama I65 was 3 lanes, they are widening it in many places having to blast into hill sides. Same can be said about Kentucky and Ohio. In the cities very rarely does the freeway go below 4 lanes and those 4 lanes extend beyond the city by 10 to 20 miles.

These places have HOV lanes and encourage use. If the lanes are not built the road median is built so the lanes could be easily added.

I got stuck in Cincinnati traffic, metro population of 2.5 million. My 25 mile drive took about 35 minutes. That same distance at home frequently takes an hour.

They have rivers here too. The Ohio river is not tiny yet they manage to have multiple access bridges crossing these rivers. Many times because of the landscape they are much taller.

We are easily in my mind 30 years behind just for road projects.

Then you get to education. It feels like Ohio has libraries everywhere. It's nice. They also recycle which is also nice.

End ramble.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 22
  • Created
  • Last Reply
Antrell Williams Town

Antrell Williams

Posted
Posted

This is a bit of a rant / ramble.

I've been on a road trip since last Friday and many of these things we already know but being out of town shows you how pathetic our infrastructure is in the Baton Rouge area.

Most of Alabama I65 was 3 lanes, they are widening it in many places having to blast into hill sides. Same can be said about Kentucky and Ohio. In the cities very rarely does the freeway go below 4 lanes and those 4 lanes extend beyond the city by 10 to 20 miles.

These places have HOV lanes and encourage use. If the lanes are not built the road median is built so the lanes could be easily added.

I got stuck in Cincinnati traffic, metro population of 2.5 million. My 25 mile drive took about 35 minutes. That same distance at home frequently takes an hour.

They have rivers here too. The Ohio river is not tiny yet they manage to have multiple access bridges crossing these rivers. Many times because of the landscape they are much taller.

We are easily in my mind 30 years behind just for road projects.

Then you get to education. It feels like Ohio has libraries everywhere. It's nice. They also recycle which is also nice.

End ramble.

Sounds like a bunch of commies to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BRPJ Whistle-Stop

BRPJ

Posted
Posted

I agree.  I feel this way all of the time when I visit other places.  Especially places smaller than Baton Rouge that have wider interstates and better connectivity with surface roads.  It is so unacceptable its disgusting.  And what bothers me the most is that damn ramp coming off the new bridge on 1-10.  That is the most embarrassing engineering ever. 

 

Another thing I noticed is how cities are generally landscaped at the street level with a manicured touch.  In Baton Rouge I see a lot of paint or cement cracking on the roads, weeds are everywhere.  I visited Columbia SC for the first time and everything looked so clean and well managed.  In BR, well it looks like the Big Ragedy in too many places.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
richyb83 Megalopolis

richyb83

Posted
Posted

The fact we call something that was built back in the 1960's new(I-10 Bridge)....says a lot! The off ramp was an epic brain fart! What were they thinking back then??

 

Being a deep water port works For & Against BR...harder to build massive bridge over a deep water port...still BR should have a 3rd Bridge; south of LSU to Brusly

 

No doubt the region is behind on the roads....a Southern by-pass mentioned in 80's or 90's may have come to fruition had it not been for the 1,240 acre Bluff Swamp/Spanish Lake...the proposed route ran right thru it...and it was axed by the environmentalist...no argument here...just wish they could have gone around it.

 

4-lanes on I-10 to Tanger Mall would be ideal & 3 to Hwy 22/Sunshine Bridge exit

 

BR was little (small street grid footprint)...then grew too fast ...in  1940 the population was only 35,000...then exploded to 125,00 in 1950...That's when problems began...(165,000 in 1970 to 219,000 in 1980)).....it truly  became overgrown country town with poor connectivity. Think of a time (80's?) when Corporate Blvd was not connected to Old Hammond Hwy...and the afflicted Coursey Blvd was just a mile long....are a couple of examples

Link to comment
Share on other sites
itsjustme3 Burg

itsjustme3

Posted
Posted

The fact we call something that was built back in the 1960's new(I-10 Bridge)....says a lot! The off ramp was an epic brain fart! What were they thinking back then??

waaaitttt a sec...

That's not because it was new/modern/etc. It's because it was new and not confused with the airline bridge.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mr. Burnham Hamlet

Mr. Burnham

Posted
Posted

waaaitttt a sec...

That's not because it was new/modern/etc. It's because it was new and not confused with the airline bridge.

It's like your 'New' State Capitol, it was built in the thirties. The whole naming of things as 'new' even though their fifty to almost one hundred years more shows that BR used to be a really small city.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites
richyb83 Megalopolis

richyb83

Posted
Posted

waaaitttt a sec...

That's not because it was new/modern/etc. It's because it was new and not confused with the airline bridge.

LOL....I realize it's to distinguish the I-10 Bridge & the Airline Hwy bridge...been living here all of my life...it's sometimes hard to make a point on the internet. 

 

I think Mr. Bernham understands...something that began construction over 50 years ago still getting the designation as "new" is laughable....

 

Maybe they can call the I-10 Bridge the middle aged bridge :silly:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
all2neat Hamlet

all2neat

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I would give BR a pass if it were in a unique situation with that population growth rate. The problem is other areas have managed faster growth and have gotten further ahead. Its depressing. Tonight I drove from Pittsburgh to Nashville. In Kentucky I65 was three laned the whole state except for the last 0.8 miles.

 

I mentioned to my wife last week that it shows how far behind the area is when you call a 50 year old bridge the new bridge. Its laughable. When I first moved here I couldn't find it because I was expecting it to be a bit younger.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
itsjustme3 Burg

itsjustme3

Posted
Posted

I have heard it many time before...

I thought your first post you said you just moved here? You've head it called "the new state capital" several times?

I would give BR a pass if it were in a unique situation with that population growth rate. The problem is other areas have managed faster growth and have gotten further ahead. Its depressing. Tonight I drove from Pittsburgh to Nashville. In Kentucky I65 was three laned the whole state except for the last 0.8 miles.

I mentioned to my wife last week that it shows how far behind the area is when you call a 50 year old bridge the new bridge. Its laughable. When I first moved here I couldn't find it because I was expecting it to be a bit younger.

BR's population boom happened after Katrina so it's not like there was a lot of time to plan. If Katrina never happened we wouldn't be discussing this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mr. Burnham Hamlet

Mr. Burnham

Posted
Posted

I thought your first post you said you just moved here? You've head it called "the new state capital" several times?

BR's population boom happened after Katrina so it's not like there was a lot of time to plan. If Katrina never happened we wouldn't be discussing this.

Yes, I moved here a few months ago, however many people I talked to when downtown or friends I have made have called it "the new state capitol". It still is ridiculous, that building is almost 100 years old. Something I have noticed is that this city has some really nice areas, but they are hard to access. And while at first glance I-10 looked like a well designed route, it's in terrible condition, too small, and poorly designed. It's really sad, especially with the cities population and somewhat growth. 

I thought your first post you said you just moved here? You've head it called "the new state capital" several times?

BR's population boom happened after Katrina so it's not like there was a lot of time to plan. If Katrina never happened we wouldn't be discussing this.

I imagine that Katrina's impact was big, but was it that big?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ehyfield Whistle-Stop

ehyfield

Posted
Posted

I see these all the time. They are more efficient in that they have 3 steps in each light cycle as opposed to the traditional 4 and are supposed to move more vehicles in a single green light. The bracing underneath these intersections are slightly different if you noticed. The weight distribution is different for traffic traveling through the intersection. Did the ones you see have the extra U-turn?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.