Proposed I-410

[richyb83]

This is getting interesting..dude makes a good argument; but I still think the new bridge belongs in WBR Addis/Brusly

Ourso demands bridge...Iberville Parish Council calls special election

Parish President Mitch Ourso told the Iberville Parish Council on Tuesday that if the parish does not receive a bridge across the Mississippi River as part of the proposed bypass loop around Baton Rouge, he will pull the parish out of the project.

On the bridge issue, a visibly frustrated Ourso told the council:

[cajun]

I wonder if they can avoid his parish completely...and I hope he understands the implications of doing so.

I mean...we are talking less than a mile here, right?

[richyb83]

Did you mean the route with bridge to Addis Brusly be just 1 mile from the Iberville Parish line?? If the bridge is to be in Iberville.....that would have at least 5 miles or more with that dog-leg hook around Plaquemine..

See Post #249 MAP

[cajun]

If they go that route, then they need to go through Plaquimine or at least north of town.

Part of the reason the bridge is going in Brusly is to preserve the historical parts of Iberville Parish....that kinda pisses me off a little that this clown is beotching and complaining about it now.

[richyb83]

Wasn't gonna post anymore on the "loop" since I have a hard time thinking it will ever happen...more importance is on the northern-section of the loop; which would be at least 10 years down the road...even that doesn't look as promising as the opposition from Livingston may force them to pull-out of this project...the southern-section from Walker/Gonzales/Addis/Port Allen looks like that is NOT gonna ever happen + they didn't have 20-30 more years to wait anyway....

This alternate route...a proposed "Westbank Expressway" seems more feasible...an emergency evacuation hurricane-route from NOLA that will take the strain off the I-10 funnel from the split to the bridge is badly needed...maybe Ascension & Livingston can get that north-south parkway they had talked about too..

Loop alternates proposed

The roughly 40- to 50-mile expressway would incorporate and widen to four lanes sections of La. 3127 within existing rights of way. The expressway would tie into La. 1 and La. 70 and add a new section to link up with Interstate 10 near Port Allen. The proposed expressway is one alternative Ascension Parish legislators and local officials said they would like to focus on rather than the proposed 85-mile Baton Rouge Loop.

The expressway would link west bank communities from St. Charles Parish to West Baton Rouge Parish without routing traffic across the Mississippi River.

The West Bank Expressway and other proposals are being touted as alternatives while local leaders take stock of vocal opposition to the long-term nature and the cost of the proposed $4.5 billion Baton Rouge Loop

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/ascension/84363752.html

[cajun]

Good Grief.

If Livingston doesn't want the loop, then let's build it in the median of a widened Airline highway. There's enough right of way for an elevated 4 lane section and 3 directional feeder lanes in each direction (or 6 lanes of freeway and 2 feeder lanes....take your pick).

That's where it should be anyways. It will breath new life to retailers in North Baton Rouge and bring up property values in Broadmoor, Sherwood, and Tara.

Imagine getting from Coursey to the Airport in 10 minutes......Or being able to drive around the nightmare between College Drive and the bridge if you are just passing through.

[richyb83]

Sounds good cajun...but what kind of price tag$$ are looking at with all that elevated road-way??

[buckett5425]

An elevated express way would completely decimate the neighborhoods and retail within a few blocks of it. Personally, I think it is a terrible idea. Think of how terrible I-10 is in east Houston....

[cajun]

An elevated express way would completely decimate the neighborhoods and retail within a few blocks of it. Personally, I think it is a terrible idea. Think of how terrible I-10 is in east Houston....

Doesn't necessarily have to be elevated...probably should have clarified....but you'd want adequate and frequent access to the service roads on either side of it. The key here is the service roads. Houston is one of the only cities that does it this way.

Nearly all of the retail in Houston is concentrated along the freeways because they have service roads. It's ugly and goes against all good planning...but it keeps businesses open and keeps traffic flowing by them. Nearly all the large retail and refuling stations in north Baton Rouge is concentrated along Airline Highway already.

East Houston retailers aren't exactly struggling. They are ugly, older suburban establishments....but they are fairing much better than a huge portion of Airline is doing in Baton Rouge.

And considering that the option seems to be a route that goes through the middle of nowhere 20 miles north of town - which is going to hurt the whole city in the long run.

[xav13r]

An elevated express way would completely decimate the neighborhoods and retail within a few blocks of it. Personally, I think it is a terrible idea. Think of how terrible I-10 is in east Houston....

Where is I-10 elevated in Houston??? We are talking about Texas right?

Anyway, New Orleans thrives on elevated expressways and nothing is decimated there, but the areas that were already on their way out. Look at the Westbank Expressway in Jefferson Parish for example.

[cajun]

Little off topic...but I just got a $650 bill (technically, my insurance got the bulk of it) to repair the Jetta for damage inflicted by a pot hole on Coursey Blvd. New wheel, suspension bits, and tire....yikes.

How does the city plan and budgets road re-hab projects? Is there something that is delaying some maintenance work?

[all2neat]

I love the feeder roads in texas, they make it so everything can be put within a mile, versus at an intersection.. It spreads things out a bit and helps traffic flow.

[xav13r]

I love the feeder roads in texas, they make it so everything can be put within a mile, versus at an intersection.. It spreads things out a bit and helps traffic flow.

I just wish DOTD could get the concept right. The ones on the Westbank Expressway are ok. The ones they just added to I-10 are horrible.

[cajun]

I just wish DOTD could get the concept right. The ones on the Westbank Expressway are ok. The ones they just added to I-10 are horrible.

Yeah...if they are going to do everything wrong and put retail up against the freeway, they might as well put service roads in.

The ones on the westbank and Texas have those u turn lanes that make it much easier. I'd like to see that for Airline Highway.

[all2neat]

I just wish DOTD could get the concept right. The ones on the Westbank Expressway are ok. The ones they just added to I-10 are horrible.

I agree with you there, they are not long enough to do anything anyway.. They tried to fix it by closing the lanes at the ramps but why they didn't close the left lane so no one had a yield is beyond me.. This is the east bound side in front of home furniture. When they opened the "on ramp" to the feeder road from Mall of LA eastbound I figured that was a bad accident waiting to happen, no acceleration lane and it's a blind curve.. You have to concentrate on mergin, looking behind to see if you can and looking ahead to see if the person in front of you stopped or went... I'm glad they changed that.. That whole section was done poorly.

[xav13r]

The ones on the Westbank are ok, but for some reason DOTD didn't put U-Turns at the intersections where the most traffic U-turns. The ones they just added to I-10 in Metairie look exactly like the ones in Texas, U-turns and all. The problem is Texas has 1 exit lane merging into 2 or 3 feeder lanes. The ones in Metairie have 2 exit lanes merging into 1 feeder lane so you have 2 lanes of freeway traffic trying to cram into an already occupied lane. I don't even understand the ones in Baton Rouge at Bluebonnet.

[cajun]

The ones on the Westbank are ok, but for some reason DOTD didn't put U-Turns at the intersections where the most traffic U-turns. The ones they just added to I-10 in Metairie look exactly like the ones in Texas, U-turns and all. The problem is Texas has 1 exit lane merging into 2 or 3 feeder lanes. The ones in Metairie have 2 exit lanes merging into 1 feeder lane so you have 2 lanes of freeway traffic trying to cram into an already occupied lane. I don't even understand the ones in Baton Rouge at Bluebonnet.

The goal was to create another exit at Picardy while keeping as much of the consequential traffic off the freeway as possible. I'd like to see them install the "U turn" lanes on Bluebonnet and Siegen...I think there's enough room. Otherwise, I think they've done well for adding another exit. Traffic flows better on the interstate in that area than i did before, and there is more development and traffic than ever. It did take some getting used to though.... but now entry and exit traffic is kept off the freeway until as late as possible. It's going to be really nice when they finally install the Picardy extension out to Perkins (and I hope they leave at least a 28' median for a future passenger rail there...but that's another story....).

I'd like to see them add shared entry/exit lanes for Airline at I-12 so you have X-merging on a seperate lane rather than on I12 itself. I could draw it out....but essentially, it's just a seperate lane that you'd enter if you were exiting Airline north or south...or entering the freeway. Right now there are two points of entry and the right lane has to slow down to 45 mph.

An on ramp to an on ramp sounds stupid, but I've seen it in Florida and Texas and it helps tremendously. As fewer "on ramps" as possible would be best for traffic on the freeway (but more difficult for feeder and surface level streets)...kinda upset to see a new ramp at Pecue planned.

They are installing those traffic spacer lights which seem good in practice but they ALWAYS back up onto the surface streets in other places they've been installed.

---As a side note, a friend of mine (who I didn't think cared about things like this) was arguing with me over where and how Baton Rouge should implement a rail based transit system. Up until this argument, I favored a more MARTA-style system (except less crappy).....but he's got me convinced that a Houston style system would be cheaper and more affective if coupled with a heavier New Orleans-Baton Rouge dedicated rail line. He mapped it out and everything.

I'm trying to get him to share it here....he worked for a company that built these sort of things so I am assuming he knows what he is talking about. He had a passenger rail line paralleling the freight line with stops in Scotlandville/Airport, North Blvd/Downtown, south Baton Rouge, Gonzales, Kenner/NOLA airport, and downtown NOLA. He sold me on a seperate light rail system btw LSU and downtown in the Nicholson median and along North Blvd/Florida Blvd out to a denham springs commuter center.

I think it would be a good start...it doesn't seem to be a massive system, but it's the cheapest way to get started- the state or fed would likely pay to expand the rail service btw. BR and NOLA - heavy electrified lines/

The City would have to install a lighter rail in the medians of roads where there is already plenty of right of way- just like Houston did. Houston has one of the more successful systems in the country in terms of ridership and it seems to be relatively easy to expand and operate. A system like that could fit into the median on roads like Corusey, Florida Blvd, Nicholson, Bluebonnet, and Sherwood Forrest pretty easily (if you can part with the green space in the median), and it its light enough existing over and under passes that streets use.

[xav13r]

IMO, light rail similar to Houston would be much more feasible and easier to implement in Baton Rouge. The only issues would probably be at freeway overpasses/underpasses, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Heavy rail would be great for NOLA <-> BR, I think. Maybe even Lafayette <-> Baton Rouge <-> New Orleans <-> Biloxi.

[cajun]

IMO, light rail similar to Houston would be much more feasible and easier to implement in Baton Rouge. The only issues would probably be at freeway overpasses/underpasses, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Heavy rail would be great for NOLA <-> BR, I think. Maybe even Lafayette <-> Baton Rouge <-> New Orleans <-> Biloxi.

yeah. Dallas has a heavier rail line for one of it's Fort Worth-Dallas routes. I'd like to see something like that on a dedicated electrified line between Baton Rouge metro airport and downtown NOLA...with stops in Scotlandville/airport, downtown BR, south BR, Gonzales, LaPlace, Kenner airport, and downtown New Orleans.

If they can keep it on it's own track, it wouldn't have to be subject to those stupid Rail guildlines that force passenger rail to weight down the cars that use shared tracks. If they keep the weight down, they can increase the speed safely and minimize the affect of additional stops. If they can get them up to 130 mph in the rural sections, then additional stops in Gonzales and LaPlace would easily be offset and the overall trip time would be reduced over a car ride.

That combined with a Houston style line (up and down Florida/North Blvd btw Denham and Downtown and another down Nicholson (crossing over to Burbank and Bluebonnet) and out to the Mall of LA/Perkins Rowe area) would be a great start. Eventually, they could add them on Plank, Sherwood, Coursey, etc.... And like you mentioned, that kind of light rail can use existing vehicular overpasses and intersections. The problem is that traffic lights would have to be timed to get the cars out of the way like they do in Houston (as opposed to New Orleans, where the street cars stop at red lights).

It could be done.

[xav13r]

If they can keep it on it's own track, it wouldn't have to be subject to those stupid Rail guildlines that force passenger rail to weight down the cars that use shared tracks. If they keep the weight down, they can increase the speed safely and minimize the affect of additional stops. If they can get them up to 130 mph in the rural sections, then additional stops in Gonzales and LaPlace would easily be offset and the overall trip time would be reduced over a car ride.

The problem there would building a new line across the swamp. LaDEQ and whoever else would have a field day, which would probably limit to the freight line already there. The freight railroads other than NO Public Belt or a force to be reckoned with themselves. They are the ones who put a halt to the new Desire Streetcar Line.

Back to the Loop. How do Baton Rouge citizens feel about a GeauxPass only freeway (I'm assuming it will be this way since it appears to be DOTD's current M.O. when it comes to toll roads), assuming it gets built.

[cajun]

The problem there would building a new line across the swamp. LaDEQ and whoever else would have a field day, which would probably limit to the freight line already there. The freight railroads other than NO Public Belt or a force to be reckoned with themselves. They are the ones who put a halt to the new Desire Streetcar Line.

Back to the Loop. How do Baton Rouge citizens feel about a GeauxPass only freeway (I'm assuming it will be this way since it appears to be DOTD's current M.O. when it comes to toll roads), assuming it gets built.

Yeah...wouldn't be the first time they got into the way of progress......but I'm banking that, when the time comes, the estimated reduced vehicle traffic and reduced need for additional freeway lanes will have them backing the rail plan.

But then again, environmentalist don't always listen to logical arguments though they have the best of intentions.

As for the loop.... I'd like to be able to put large trucks on the loop and get them out of the city core. I believe they cause much of the traffic problems in the region and sure seem to be involved in most of the accidents on I-12.

At the same time, it wouldn't be fair to allow freight traffic to skirt by the tolls when they clearly cause most of the road damage and more than their fair share of traffic headaches. A Geaux Pass only road (like Houston's SW freeway) would be a commuter road only.

Maybe a dedicated truck lane with a seperate toll? I'm all for separating freight traffic from regular vehicular traffic! I hope they limit them to the right two lanes only when they finish widening I-12.

[richyb83]

Nice post Cajun

This just will not go away...

Holden: Loop moving forward

East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holden said planning for the loop is moving forward, yet Iberville, Ascension and Livingston Parishes have pulled out.

The next phase of planning includes a "northern bypass" between the two remaining parishes on board, East and West Baton Rouge.

West Baton Rouge Parish President Riley Berthelot wants to use existing roads like Airline Highway to construct the north part of the loop. Airline could be elevated over cross streets to eliminate stopping at red lights

http://www.wbrz.com/news/holden-loop-moving-forward/

[Antrell Williams]

Wow. Don't they understand what a full loop will do? Would you pay a toll to drive on an elevated Airline?

[itsjustme3]

Wow. Don't they understand what a full loop will do?

Who would pay for a loop thru Ascension and Livingston?

What/how many neighborhoods would be destroyed?

Do people of those parishes want a freeway and exit off ramps running thru Prairievill or Denham?

Would you pay a toll to drive on an elevated Airline?

Sounds like Holden is trying to generate a new revenue stream.

[Antrell Williams]

I can see the votes splitting 50/50 in Ascension and Livingston. I could care less about the McMansions in those parishes, even my mother could build another house if it happened to destroy her home. Some people will probably want a loop, others will highly despise the idea.

A toll road is a good idea to generate more revenue for the DOT, but not just on Airline. At least not for me.

Airline Hwy should be elevated, and I have been advocating removal of traffic lights for months now.