Hooper Road extension and bridge

[cajun]

As some of you know, there's been a push to bring Hooper Road across the Amite River into Livingston.   I'm trying to collect the documents from DOTD and City of Central onto this one page because I think there's not very much information out there, and the scope of this absolutely critical project is changing a little.

http://wwwsp.dotd.la.gov/Inside_LaDOTD/Divisions/Engineering/Environmental/Documents/H.005403 Hooper Road/Hooper_Road_ppt_show.pdf

This is what the Governor and some legislators are trying to get for 2016...it includes $4.2 million for extending Hooper Road.   A little more than a drop in the bucket, but hopefully as the budget picture improves, more money funnels in.  

http://gov.louisiana.gov/index.cfm?md=newsroom&tmp=detail&articleID=4934

Some layout plans on the Central side include a roundabout at Greenwell Springs....unfortunately no additional plans to widen Hopper to 6 lanes near BTR or to widen Airline Highway in the area.   The bridge and connector itself will require the relocation of some residents.  Hopefully the bridge deck includes enough space to widen the road to 6 lanes in the future without breaking out the construction cranes and pile drivers.   There's a push to have pedestrian and bike access as well, which should be good for people in that area.   I'm not sure if they intend to widen Hooper to 4 lanes beyond where the Green Light project stops to the west of this project.

http://www.centralspeaks.com/2015/04/02/new-amite-river-bridge-plans-project-to-include-two-lane-roundabout/

Overall, I think this is a critical project for Baton Rouge.   Some of you that loathe suburban development and want to inconvenience commuters in every way possible will hate this like you do everything else.   The reality is that this will open up more of northern Livingston to development and funnel that traffic into northern Baton Rouge instead of I-10 or I-12.   As you know, there's an abundance of retail-zoned land in and around the Baton Rouge airport that is just waiting for higher traffic counts.    I think this will help make northern Central and northern Livingston more appealing to residential development and draw more retail and possibly office/industrial activity into the area around the airport long term.  Watson and northern Central are also closer to the downtown office market than the many sub-markets in south Baton Rouge, so as they develop, the appeal of downtown office space could improve.  That's good for north Baton Rouge and the city in general, and a great way to use suburban development to funnel traffic into highway corridors that need more spending power.  

[dan326]

Good breakdown. The population within the cities limits probably isn't going to grow so we might as well well do what we can to keep the metro happy so the people don't move away completely.

[Mr. Burnham]

I completely agree Cajun. This is critical for the city and the metro development, but again as you mentioned in the OP, it needs to be expanded to six lanes closer to BTR to make the airport a more viable option for Metro citizens.  

[all2neat]

  Some of you that loathe suburban development and want to inconvenience commuters in every way possible will hate this like you do everything else.   The reality is that this will open up more of northern Livingston to development and funnel that traffic into northern Baton Rouge instead of I-10 or I-12.   As you know, there's an abundance of retail-zoned land in and around the Baton Rouge airport that is just waiting for higher traffic counts.    I think this will help make northern Central and northern Livingston more appealing to residential development and draw more retail and possibly office/industrial activity into the area around the airport long term.  Watson and northern Central are also closer to the downtown office market than the many sub-markets in south Baton Rouge, so as they develop, the appeal of downtown office space could improve.  That's good for north Baton Rouge and the city in general, and a great way to use suburban development to funnel traffic into highway corridors that need more spending power.  

Its part of why I left. I got tired of waiting.

[cajun]

I wonder if there would be a way to build a highway from I-110 near the Airline interchange out towards I-55 connecting Kentwood, Montpelier, northern Livingston, Watson, and Central to the capitol city's airport, howell place commercial/distribution area, industrial base, and downtown.  

It would mean a quicker connection to McComb.  Ideally, we'd eventually see a freeway grade highway extended from I-110 north to Natchez and onto "Funroe" and eventually Little Rock.   Seems like that would be beneficial to the Mississippi delta and everyone that lives there in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.  

[richyb83]

Agreed Cajun on other thread you posted...have long said South Harrells Ferry Road( that dead ends) needs to be extended with a new Bridge over the Amite River connecting it to the Juban Road/Hwy 16 intersection (into south Denham Springs/Walker with all of the population growth)...this should be 1st priority...If there is a wreck near the Amite River/DS...Instead of the Hwy 190/Florida Blvd bottleneck..they could hit Sherwood Forest/Millerville/O'Neal south to Harrells Ferry all the way to Juban Rd back to I-12 East...by-passing the mess

The new 4-laned Magnolia Bridge is very nice; & while a Hooper Road extension/bridge will be another nice addition ...the Central population is close with the Shenandoah area.../ Watson/South DS & Walker

Highway meaning 4-lanes similar to Airline Hwy??  Might Hooper Road be the best bet ? Extending it with the new Amite River Bridge & tying it in with an upgraded Hwy 16 (north of Watson);  into St Helena Parish maybe by-passing north of Montpelier near Roseland/ I-55 south of Kentwood

May have to try some map sketches soon

 

 

[Mr. Burnham]

I wonder if there would be a way to build a highway from I-110 near the Airline interchange out towards I-55 connecting Kentwood, Montpelier, northern Livingston, Watson, and Central to the capitol city's airport, howell place commercial/distribution area, industrial base, and downtown.  

It would mean a quicker connection to McComb.  Ideally, we'd eventually see a freeway grade highway extended from I-110 north to Natchez and onto "Funroe" and eventually Little Rock.   Seems like that would be beneficial to the Mississippi delta and everyone that lives there in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.  

It's possible, here it is:

I combined this with a map I posted on the loop page. BR could have an awesome freeway network like this...imagine the connections we could have...and how much better traffic would be. 

 

[cajun]

Does anyone know if there is an update on this project or is this dead in the water like most other state-funded projects in the Capital area?

[dan326]

I haven't seen anything about it recently so...

[cajun]

On 8/3/2016 at 5:28 PM, dan326 said:

I haven't seen anything about it recently so...

The Governor's office must be focused on more "politically high priority" projects than traffic mitigation in the Capital area....such as turn lanes in Amite, freeway widening in Breaux Bridge, airport subsidies in New Orleans, arena renovations in Shreveport, or street lights in Bayou Pigeon. 

[richyb83]

LOL Cajun....i know they had to tweak the original route thru Livingston to minimize impacts on residents & businesses...a couple Round-abouts are part of it too...thought construction might start sometime next year...but we know how slow projects take to get started around here....it took Central Thruway at least 15 years to come to fruition

I-10 in Lafayette could actually use a widening further west to Ambassador Caffrey or even further west to Scott....but not at the expense of taking care of the I-10 Bridge Cluster in BR....What were those dudes thinking in the 60's when they did that???

[cajun]

7 hours ago, richyb83 said:

What were those dudes thinking in the 60's when they did that???

That they'd probably all be in the ground before it would be a problem. 

They were probably mostly right.