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Proposed I-410

brresident

By brresident
in Baton Rouge

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Antrell Williams Town

Antrell Williams

Posted
Posted

The current loop route is far too large. It's not definite but the bulk of the traffic comes from Prarieville and SBR, a southern loop at/near Sunshine is too far south. For Livingston, a loop in Walker is too far east for most commuters. We NEED a street grid. We don't NEED a loop that takes 20-30 years to build.

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cajun Town

cajun

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Why is it too far south? It takes up to an extra hour to move through town....which is developing along the freeways regardless of what can be done to mitigate it. In a few decades, the bottlenecks will expand to the suburbs. I'm sure that 30 years ago when nothing was out there, Prarieville was too far south.

How on earth can Baton Rouge expect to attract business when interstate tie ups are as frequent as they are? Things are exacerbated by the lack of street grid and horrible highway infrastructure in the region.

Alternative routes are needed to not only alleviate the issues we se today, but to address the expanding needs of the entire state looking forward.

JR's column is yet another line of BS geared to attract site visits and comments on his obviously controversial and parochial stance. It's a tired, hypocritical argument. People complain about the lack of planning and forward thinking in the region, and when projects come along to address the needs of the future, they throw a childish fit.

No level headed person thinks that the loop will make make a large impact on traffic inside of Baton Rouge....but considering only the needs and goals of EBR and Livingston is both myopic and short sighted- the same kind of thinking that is responsible for our lack of a street grid or decent highways, which is directly responsible for the catastrophic effects that a single traffic accident can cause.

It's not as if we can just snap our fingers and a street grid will appear. Making connections in town will require expropriation and demolition just like a loop will....and will be required regardless of the availability of a loop.

My argument is that people self segregate based on their economic status regardless....as do corporations and business entities. It can't be stopped. Even with $5 per gallon gas, the suburbs will expand with a decent economy- and if those options are not availale, the region will not be able to compete with its peers that actually spend money on their infrastructure. Better highway infrastructure will help make the region more viable in the long run to employers and residents.....and since it is proposed by private developers who will shoulder most of the risk, there's no reason to oppose it unless it runs through your living room.

Baton Rouge isn't a small town anymore. Time to stop thinking like one. The loop and street grid improvements are complimentary ideas....by no means are they competing ideas.

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Antrell Williams Town

Antrell Williams

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We don't need to further encourage sprawl, it has done nothing but add to traffic problems in the area. Being so far south would just bring attention to that area and not the areas that truly need it, either way it goes the areas closest to SBR and Prairieville will be more densely populated and those commuters are not going to go to Sorrento to get on a loop just to travel back north. Connecting streets in a program like the Green Light Plan is felt much much quicker than the time it would take to construct an entire loop around metro BR, and for it to only serve people in the far edges of Ascension and Livingston Parishes.

I think we can make do with cheaper, faster alternatives. Make Airline a non-stop highway with overpasses at major intersections, same with Florida. Make Airline/190 freeway/controlled access highway status after the Plank Rd intersection and continue it on LA 1 down to the Sunshine Bridge, and adopt my I-51 proposal for a north/south interstate that serves the eastern part of the parish.

I think the modern idea of a loop is outdated.

I'm not sure of your stance on this Cajun.. are you for or against?

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cajun Town

cajun

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The more I think about it, the more I'm for a by pass of some kind. This does not mean that I don't think the street grid problems should be addressed, either. Like I said....the loop is a complimentary project.

Things like the Green light plan help, but also consider that any time you add capacity, you encourage capacity utilization. How many times has a road been widened only to have capacity problems within a few years? Airline, Bluebonnet, Old Hammond, and Siegen all have that problem after widening projects and connectivity improvements. I'm not saying we should ignore connectivity....but I'm pointing out that equilibrium seems to be "full gridlock" regardless of how many lanes or the availability of a continuous route.

The reality is that sprawl is unavoidable for a growing city....and Baton Rouge will grow along 10 and 12.. Efforts to mitigate it by forcing people into congested streets will only put the region into an economic disadvantage against places like Houston or Altanta- which keeps some traffic on the periphery of their cities. At some point in the near future, there won't be any more available land in the city and costs of living will rise due to the scarcity principle, making the region less desirable for middle class people- and their employers.

Govenments are not immune to the law of the free market just because they can pillage and rob tax payers. They have to compete with each other for tax base. Baton Rouge can no longer compete with Livingston and Ascension for middle class taxpayers for a number of reasons, few of which are ever discussed (much less addressed).

The loop represents forward thinking even if you don't agree with it in principle. It is as much of a proposal to address future issues as it is to react to existing ones. Baton Rouge and Louisiana clearly has no clue how to handle decisions like that. They are always reacting.

Also, if given the choice, I'd rather see a loop than more connections (or improved connections) into and out of the region. I'd rather more peripheral development than none at all. Like it or not, infrastructure investment is a driver of economic growth. It isn't going to solve the past sins of the city.....but it will create alternative routes and some redundancy that is not currently available.

Lastly, freeway routed through blighted areas do not have the same effect as surface streets. Drivers on freeways are not forced to interact with the areas they drive through like they are when they encounter a traffic light or stop sign. Routing some traffic around the city (which loop opponents say won't happen anyway) won't have anywhere near the same impact on the city than the one experienced when the interstate was built in town 60 years ago.

One day, I'd like to consider changing interstate 110 to a high capacity surface street through downtown and around the Governor's mansion. I don't think we can do that without better highway infrastructure on the periphery of the city.

Developing a freeway network through undeveloped or lightly developed tracts is far less harmful than cutting through an existing neighborhood with wider roads or new connections, as the undeveloped area will eventually be developed around the freeway. I fully support a wider Airline and Florida, but turning them into freeways will eliminate traveler interaction with the neighborhoods in which they pass through (with the exception of Florida east of Airline....that's already ruined because of the service roads. We could never figure out how to calculate traffic counts on that stupid road for my previous employer). You also run the risk of hurting the surrounding neighborhood if areas need to be expropriated- and I guarantee that will be necessary if a freeway on that route is involved.

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byrde Burg

byrde

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I think we can make do with cheaper, faster alternatives. Make Airline a non-stop highway with overpasses at major intersections, same with Florida. Make Airline/190 freeway/controlled access highway status after the Plank Rd intersection and continue it on LA 1 down to the Sunshine Bridge, and adopt my I-51 proposal for a north/south interstate that serves the eastern part of the parish.

I have always felt this is what should be done to help alleviate the traffic issues in BTR.

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cajun Town

cajun

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Then what when you come to Gonzales?

I can see how that would work. Lots of interstate spurs end in the business route of towns that size.

It would be a commuter freeway for Ascension, but a loop for people traveling east-west through the region. It only needs a connector between 190 and 10 on the west side.

That could help significantly- especially if they make Florida between Airline and O'Neal a freeway.....but let's not kid ourselves. Making Airline into a freeway, while cheaper than the proposed loop, would require some costly expropriation.

People would go nuts. The NIMBYs would be out in force. For once they'd have a legitimate concern.

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Antrell Williams Town

Antrell Williams

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I can see how that would work. Lots of interstate spurs end in the business route of towns that size.

It would be a commuter freeway for Ascension, but a loop for people traveling east-west through the region. It only needs a connector between 190 and 10 on the west side.

That could help significantly- especially if they make Florida between Airline and O'Neal a freeway.....but let's not kid ourselves. Making Airline into a freeway, while cheaper than the proposed loop, would require some costly expropriation.

People would go nuts. The NIMBYs would be out in force. For once they'd have a legitimate concern.

What if instead of freeways and overpasses the major cross streets would go over Airline, which would go underneath the cross street. If you want to turn left or right, you would keep right where you would be brought to an intersection. I'm not sure what the proper name for this is. Houston uses them and they seem to work fairly well, even on main streets.

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Antrell Williams Town

Antrell Williams

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This may sound kinda crazy, but I would just extend Bluebonnet Blvd all the way across the river and connect it to LA 1, with LA 1 being upgraded to a freeway connecting to the proposed LA 415 Extension road.

It would be cheaper and I think more beneficial to the westbank if it were built near Brightside. Lots of people commute to and from south Baton Rouge daily but more come from within the core of the city and parish.

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