Baton Rouge City Profile

[drew6974]

That's a good list but there's one glaring omission. The new Louisiana State Museum across from the capitol. The museum's been open a year and a half but it doesn't seem that many people know about it yet.

I know the other museums are nice but the new state museum has more appeal and attractions than any other existing museum in BR. I am always dissapointed when I pass by and see very few people entering or exiting. Maybe more advertising? I don't know how much a state facility can afford to advertise, but I really think it's being underutilized.

I have been to it three times and I still haven't seen everything there. I tell everyone I know about it and have had people go and say how great it is. It's unlike anything else in BR and really could be more of a "destination" attraction.

Speaking of the new State Museum. A Katrina exhibit is coming Friday 7/13 and will be there until 10/13/07. Should be interesting.

http://blog.nola.com/entertainment/2007/07...s_the_open.html

[dan326]

Here are a few pics of a model of downtown Baton Rouge I made on Google Sketch Up.

Aerial View

From the Mississippi River Bridge

View from Port Allen

State capitol observation deck

View the from top of the Shaw Center

[Gauge]

Here are a few pics of a model of downtown Baton Rouge I made on Google Sketch Up.

Thats some impressive work. I love the way River Place and City Plaza II look.

Is that google sketchup file a file that can be emailed or is it something you can post a link to?

[richyb83]

Lets try this again.....the computer sucks today!!!!!!!!

Great work Dan, you got skillz! Looks like alot of work! Wish I could do something like this. I like all the different views, esp. from the Bridge.

Nice detail too. The Capitol looks great! The historic water-tower in front of the Shaw Center for the Arts looks nice. II City Plaza spire really stands out! Is that the 36 story version of RiverPlace or the scaled down 30-story one?? Those new state bldgs. are massive, if not tall.

Where's the New Courthouse? I don't see it on the aerial between the Governmental bldg. and City Plaza. And the Chase Towers are backwards..the taller one is on the south-side(right); but I like your version better

[BRPJ]

Dan awesome JOB!

Thanks for posting!

[dan326]

Thanks guys.

Is that google sketchup file a file that can be emailed or is it something you can post a link to?

I think the only way I could get it to you is to upload it the Google SketchUp website.

Nice detail too. The Capitol looks great! The historic water-tower in front of the Shaw Center for the Arts looks nice. II City Plaza spire really stands out! Is that the 36 story version of RiverPlace or the scaled down 30-story one?? Those new state bldgs. are massive, if not tall.

Where's the New Courthouse? I don't see it on the aerial between the Governmental bldg. and City Plaza. And the Chase Towers are backwards..the taller one is on the south-side(right); but I like your version better

I knew you'd like the bridge one.

It's the scaled down 30-story version of RiverPlace.

I tthink what happened was I put the footprint for it and the next day when I looked at another map and saw an empty parking lot I deleted it.

I didn't even realize they were backwrads.

Here's a picture that wouldn't load last night.

Here's a pic ofthe skyline with the Chase Towers fixed and the courthouse added.

[richyb83]

That's fantastic once again Dan! I can't wait for BR's Skyline to grow!!!

It will be interesting to see just how close in height II City Plaza and the New Courthouse will be?? I think II City Plaza's spire will be the difference.

How do you get the heights to work for Goggle sketch?? ex: One American Place is 310'ft and Chase Tower(south) 277'ft.

It will be nice to see the skyline expand to the left(north) of the Capitol + Advocate site+ new hotel for the RiverCenter. One really long skyline!!

[dan326]

That's fantastic once again Dan! I can't wait for BR's Skyline to grow!!!

It will be interesting to see just how close in height II City Plaza and the New Courthouse will be?? I think II City Plaza's spire will be the difference.

How do you get the heights to work for Goggle sketch?? ex: One American Place is 310'ft and Chase Tower(south) 277'ft.

It will be nice to see the skyline expand to the left(north) of the Capitol + Advocate site+ new hotel for the RiverCenter. One really long skyline!!

Thanks!

I got the tall building's heights from emporis and I estimated the rest. I did 10' per floor for the buildings I knew and the rest I just made between 15-50' tall.

By the way Microsoft maps has up dated their Baton Rouge aerial maps up to about Bluebonnet/Millerville and the pictures are very clear, so ya'll might want to check that out.

Edited July 18, 2007 by dan326

[richyb83]

2,300 year old mummy returns to the Louisiana Arts & Science Museum

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/8778077.html

[dan326]

Today I was watching Modern Marvels on the History Channel and they mentioned Baton Rouge. It was on the little part where they giving a quit fact before they went to the commercial break about that episodes topic, this episode was about "sticky stuff". The fact said that when Hurricane Andrew blew through in 1992 with 155 mph winds, it destroyed every street sign in Baton Roge except for one secured with some kind of super tape. What was even better was that they didn't even say Baton Rouge, LA or even worse 90 minutes from NOLA. Maybe this means we're starting to make it into the big leaues? Of course they may have been because of the fact that it was just a little 1-2 sentence statement.

Does anybody remember Hurricane Andrew? I was only 1 year old the time.

[richyb83]

Yeah Dan. Hurricane Andrew was fun for a Hurricane. The anticipation was legendary! I can remember(waiting) the first big-time gust of wind that came thru after midnight. Needless to say we stayed up all night! We were kinda stupid being out in it hiding behind parked cars in the driveway watching tree limbs flying in the air; jumping around excited like maniacs.

The eye went on shore near Morgan City and came between BR and Lafayette. You could see plenty of trees in the Atchafalaya Basin snapped like match sticks. Schools were closed about a week.

I used to get disapointed when Hurricanes would miss BR. But everything changed after Katrina.

[BRPJ]

yes, i remeber hurricane andrew, i was 8 years old.

It was horrible of course, but somehow exicting.

[dan326]

I remember when Hurricane Lili came through, everyone was scared it was going to destroy everything, but I realized by then that hurricanes usually don't do much to Baton Rouge.

Here's a building I found that I thought might look good in our downtown.It's flashy and new, but also has a sort of drab look to it that would tie it in to the existing highrises. 699 ft tall and 53 stories. Maybe we'll get one of this in the 2010's, I have a good feeling.

Edited August 1, 2007 by dan326

[richyb83]

It's not showing Dan

Yeah Lili occured in October a really weakened at the last minute; when the water temp. was cooler near the coast; also dry-air from Texas got wrapped into the system at the last minute + Gov. Foster had a huge prayer meeting before the storm.

Lili went west of Lafayette and had minimal effect on BR. My parents told me Betsy way back in 65' was the worst to hit BR...the eye went right-over the city overnight; Chaos.... then Calm w/ stars shining at night; about 30 minutes later more chaos

[hagetaka]

How can we forget Andrew, it was one of the 1st few days of school, I was in the 7th grade, the entire day we learned about hurricane facts and what to do if...

I remember the early part of the day as warm and nice, by 10pm after the news went off, so did the lights, and they stayed off for 2 weeks. The fun part was how the entire neighborhood used cars for lighting and BBQ grills worked overtime.

Walking against the wind was the best, worrying about stuff flying wasn't even on our mind, but that large pecan tree falling on our house was.

[byrde]

Today I was watching Modern Marvels on the History Channel and they mentioned Baton Rouge. It was on the little part where they giving a quit fact before they went to the commercial break about that episodes topic, this episode was about "sticky stuff". The fact said that when Hurricane Andrew blew through in 1992 with 155 mph winds, it destroyed every street sign in Baton Roge except for one secured with some kind of super tape. What was even better was that they didn't even say Baton Rouge, LA or even worse 90 minutes from NOLA. Maybe this means we're starting to make it into the big leaues? Of course they may have been because of the fact that it was just a little 1-2 sentence statement.

Does anybody remember Hurricane Andrew? I was only 1 year old the time.

I was watching that same show the other night Dan. Amazing what they can do with 'tape".

I remember Andrew, but I was not in BR at the time. I was in college at the time. Stayed glued to the TV coverage. Andrew did some wind damage to my parents house.

[yis2003yis]

Thats a hurricane we'll always remember in BR

What was the hurricane that was supposed to be close to andrews size that was headed stright for baton rouge and we did all that gettin ready and it turned up and went to mississippi at the last minute???

[byrde]

Hurricane Ivan made a last minute change in direction back in 2004. He ended up hitting Mobile and Pensacola.

[dan326]

Here's a building I found that I thought might look good in our downtown.It's flashy and new, but also has a sort of drab look to it that would tie it in to the existing highrises. 699 ft tall and 53 stories. Maybe we'll get one of this in the 2010's, I have a good feeling.

It's not showing Dan

Here we go.

[richyb83]

Wow Dan you ain't kiddin', that's a nice looking high-rise. Is that office space or parking on the lower floors?? I get the feeling some ole' foggies around here would have a hard time seeing that tower above the Capitol. It's good to dream!

Talk about a traffic nightmare....Ivan was it!!! I could not use the Interstate to get to work that morning with the continuous gridlock! That's why the southern by-pass/loop needs to go first. And Ivan is partly responsible for the NOLA residents reluctance to evacuate before Katrina; they figured it would miss them like Ivan and countless others did.

Edited August 1, 2007 by richyb83

[byrde]

Talk about a traffic nightmare....Ivan was it!!! I could not use the Interstate to get to work that morning with the continuous gridlock! That's why the southern by-pass/loop needs to go first. And Ivan is partly responsible for the NOLA residents reluctance to evacuate before Katrina; they figured it would miss them like Ivan and countless others did.

I've said the exact same thing. Everyone left N.O. when Ivan was on the way. When he did nothing to NO, people said they'd never leave again. One year later, Katrina shows up and the rest is history.

[NCB]

For the younger people that didn't leave New Orleans, it was because of storms like Lili and Ivan. For the older folks, it was those storms combined with what they had gone through many, many years earlier. I can't tell you how many times I heard older residents of the city say "I survived Betsy, I survived Camille, I can get through whatever is next. That goes for the Mississippi coast as well. Everyone here knew "the big one" would come one day, just like everyone in San Francisco knows "the big one" will come some day. But for 40 years, storms came, they were supposed to hit New Orleans head-on, and then they went somewhere else. Lili was supposed to strike New Orleans directly as a Cat. 4, the next morning, the storm weakens to a Cat. 2 and heads towards Lafayette. Ivan was supposed to put New Orleans under 20 feet of water, it hit Mobile. Katrina was supposed to turn northward after passing over southern Florida, and head towards the Florida panhandle. Yeah, look how that turned out. Wasn't Rita supposed to stirke New Orleans as well? When all of that was going on, I was going back and forth from Baton Rouge to Saint Tammany every two days, trying to bring food, water, and gasoline to my parents while avoiding cops on any of the back roads, as the parish was officially closed to vehicle traffic entering the parish. It's all a big blur to me know, to be honest.

With all the said though, keep in mind that (from what I've heard) over 1.1-1.2 million people got out of GNO when Katrina was approaching, which is one of the largest, if not the largest, mass evacuation of a city/area in U.S. history. Too many people stayed and ended up losing their lives, that's for sure, but it could have been so much worse. I remember hearing on WWL 870 a few days after the storm, that up to 10,000 people would die before it was all said and done.

[NCB]

Oh, BTW, I've seen Richy posting about a southern bypass of Baton Rouge needed first more than anything, because if nothing else, people evacuating New Orleans for a hurricane won't have to sit for 10 hours at the 10-12 split in B.R. I agree with that, and wanted to add that's it's not just New Orleans, it's the whole Gulf Coast. Anytime a hurricane approaches the Florida panhandle, Alabama and Mississippi coasts, or New Orleans, they tell everyone to go west. So whenever a major hurricane like an Ivan or a Katrina comes towards the gulf coast, you know you'll have people coming from New Orleans, Biloxi-Gulfport, Mobile, Pensacola and Panama City, and so on.

During evacuations, traffic moves until you hit Baton Rouge, where you sit for hours and hours because there just isn't anywhere else to go. That most definately needs to be taken care of before anything else, IMO.

[richyb83]

Hey Nate, should they...if they can even to attempt to?? One crew start the southern loop (I-10 Ascension to WBR) for NOLA, Metairie,etc ; another crew in Livingston( for the northern section) for the people coming from places like you said "Gulf Coast", MS, AL, FL Panhandle traveling West; because they do use I-12 and not I-10....Tricky situation for sure.

Avoiding the 10/12 split is the most important thing for sure. You should not have to be stuck in traffic for 10 hours with an approaching storm!!!

[dan326]

Something neat I found outthe the day is that the Mall at Cortana is 400,000sq ft larger than the Mall of Louisiana measured in gross leasable area. It could be a really fne mal if they did a few renervations . I also think it shuld replace it's anchor tenenants with more upscale tenants like the Northpark Mall in Dallas. Speaking of malls I also have a neat idea for a mall I'll post later.

Edited August 5, 2007 by dan326