Baton Rouge Growth and Development

[itsjustme3]

Living in Prairieville I support making airline a freeway from I10 to 110. You can cross the river into WBR if you want to loop it back with I10.

I also support making Florida a freeway past walker. Between these two changes you get the benefits of a loop while working with an existing route to minimize land acquisitions.

With all the stop lights between airline in pville to airline at I-110 you'd take just as much time now from Pville to downtown via I-10. I don't envision a benefit.

[Antrell Williams]

Apparently you have not seen the designs of some people wanting the loop to cross Spanish lake and join LA 928.

Apples and Oranges. Nothing was in those areas when I-12 was built. And Slidell already had I-10 in it. So what's your point? A loop will drastically alter Prairieville if its added to it. It would only drive people away.

So now some people can decide the fate of a loop. I don't have an issue with having a ramp at Bluff Rd.

It would only draw more people there as it would open up more land for development and peoples infatuation with suburban living. Prairieville is completely different than it was 12 years ago when I moved here. Another 12 years will be drastically different anyway, no? As the driving population in Ascension increases by the week, the demand for freeway access will increase.

 

Living in Prairieville I support making airline a freeway from I10 to 110. You can cross the river into WBR if you want to loop it back with I10.

I also support making Florida a freeway past walker. Between these two changes you get the benefits of a loop while working with an existing route to minimize land acquisitions.

We should have just expanded I-10 further and add HOV lanes. Airline could use the removal of some stop lights and some underpasses at major intersections but we don't need another freeway paralleling I-10/I-110 and I-12. There would be no benefit of a loop as we would still have to use surface roads to get to Livingston and the west bank.

[cajun]

You're going to leave that up to Ascension and Livingston powers? no thanks

Good point.

I think Zachary and even Central are better off in that area than AP or LP.

[itsjustme3]

A loop and extending a red light ridden Airline highway isn't the same. Why would someone take Airline rather than staying on the interstate?

And a few people can decide whether the area gets a new interstate cutting thru their town? You're kidding yourself if you think the people of Pville want it. Any leader who tries to push it will be committing political suicide. The people moved in great numbers to get away from EBR. Why would they want to bring that mess to their front door? They don't. You guys need to realize that this is because of EBR's piss poor planning. Blaming Ascension and Livingston for EBR's traffic is ridiculous.

[Antrell Williams]

Good point.

I think Zachary and even Central are better off in that area than AP or LP.

A good reason for Prairieville to be incorporated. If planning was a major concern to the people here, I'd be on board to make Prairieville a city.

A loop and extending a red light ridden Airline highway isn't the same. Why would someone take Airline rather than staying on the interstate?

And a few people can decide whether the area gets a new interstate cutting thru their town? You're kidding yourself if you think the people of Pville want it. Any leader who tries to push it will be committing political suicide. The people moved in great numbers to get away from EBR. Why would they want to bring that mess to their front door? They don't. You guys need to realize that this is because of EBR's piss poor planning. Blaming Ascension and Livingston for EBR's traffic is ridiculous.

You said some people wanted the loop to cut through Spanish Lake, doesn't mean that's what would occur.

 

There's a few people I've talked to that were open to the idea, none of them were strongly on either side. They realize that having only 2 major highways out of the parish isn't going to last. I'm not sure as to why you equate a freeway to EBR politics.

I wasn't talking about the traffic in EBR, I was actually talking about traffic in Ascension leading into Livingston, EBR, and Iberville parishes. I'm blaming all of the parishes for their comprehensive lack of planning. It's hard to blame EBR planning alone for the traffic on Hwy 42.

[garrett_225]

Hasn't Spanish Lake already been destroyed because of Iberville parish's decision to open some sort of floodgates on the Manchac?

[cajun]

A loop and extending a red light ridden Airline highway isn't the same. Why would someone take Airline rather than staying on the interstate?

And a few people can decide whether the area gets a new interstate cutting thru their town? You're kidding yourself if you think the people of Pville want it. Any leader who tries to push it will be committing political suicide. The people moved in great numbers to get away from EBR. Why would they want to bring that mess to their front door? They don't. You guys need to realize that this is because of EBR's piss poor planning. Blaming Ascension and Livingston for EBR's traffic is ridiculous.

 

Again, you are not clearly articulating why a loop would somehow turn AP or LP into Baton Rouge.

 

They seem to be making the exact same mistakes that Baton Rouge made decades before.   They'll do it with or without the presence of a highway. 

Edited July 29, 2013 by cajun

[all2neat]

Why airline is simple. It would become a viable alternate route. People who live in northern ascension would use it on a daily basis. I realize it will never happen. The least dotd could do is add a couple lanes to airline.

[cajun]

I can't get over how narrow Airline still is. It should be 6 lanes and sometimes 8 lanes everywhere in East Baton Rouge with a generous median. Some of those tragic lights need to be reconsidered.

The area by Tom drive is 4 lanes with a narrow median that makes U-turns impossible. The truck and industrial traffic alone in that area justify a major alignment change and an overpass for the railroad crossing at Choctaw.

Even better if it were a freeway. That's going to be the belt that the outer arteries like 61, 42, and Hooper are tied to....for better or worse. It's worth investing in.

Edited July 29, 2013 by cajun

[Antrell Williams]

I don't believe the state is going to do it right, they will probably just widen it or make it a freeway south of Pecue.

[all2neat]

I work in the tech park area off Florida but live off of hwy 42 in prairieville close to hwy42/hwy44. From my perspective (concerning daily commute) the biggest problem I face is Hwy 42 itself, Airline from Hwy 42 to Highland, and finally Airline Hwy around Parkview Baptist. These are the specifics of those problems.

 

• Hwy 42 from LA44 to Airline needs to be widened. This project is going to be started this fall with utility moves and then next summer they will start the road work. We are looking at probably a late 2016 or early 2017  completion date at best. The only fix is to add capacity (driving lanes) and turn lanes. At least this is being addressed. The second part is the school busses run during all parts of the morning. I've seen them out at 630 and I've seen them out at 730.
• Airline Hwy from LA42 to Highland. The true problem here starts with the light at LA73 in Prairieville. The issue is simple, they need more driving lanes. DOTD reworked the intersection at LA42 to include Jturns. I will say that it has helped traffic on 42 but made the problem on Airline worse. I still am curious as to what the effects will be when school starts. Between LA42 and Old Perkins the road is already widened however since it's only a mile they have it stripped as turn lanes. The other main issue with this part of the road is Highland. They have to make the light sequence stay green long enough to help highland out between LA73 and Airline. It's a short distance of about half a mile however it's a three lane road (1 each direction + 1 center turn lane). This road stacks very badly so the light for them stays green longer then it should causing traffic to backup on Airline. I know DOTD will never put an overpass here but it would be the best outcome. They also should and hopefully will add an extra driving lane to this short segment of highland.
• Airline Hwy around Parkview is just a matter of two-four laned roads merging into each other with only two continuous lanes. They need to have airline be 4 lanes for the stretch of road that is shared with HWY73. Northbound is almost always stacked morning and evening. The southbound left turn lanes onto Jefferson have a very long green light (which it needs) but this causes the north bound lanes to stack.

 

My wife and I for our next house are considering moving back to EBR just to avoid 1 & 2. There are still good areas in EBR and our low satisfaction primarily stems from traffic and lack of planning in Ascension parish. The only thing that keeps us is the fact that Ascension has really good schools. Livingston also has decent schools so we may decide to move a little further north but I don't think in 2 years we will be living in Ascension parish. I know several of our neighbors are very unhappy with the area and would move back to EBR if it weren't for the schools. Some have said screw it and moved anyway and are paying for private school if they can afford to.

Edited July 29, 2013 by all2neat

[all2neat]

I can't get over how narrow Airline still is. It should be 6 lanes and sometimes 8 lanes everywhere in East Baton Rouge with a generous median. Some of those tragic lights need to be reconsidered.

The area by Tom drive is 4 lanes with a narrow median that makes U-turns impossible. The truck and industrial traffic alone in that area justify a major alignment change and an overpass for the railroad crossing at Choctaw.

Even better if it were a freeway. That's going to be the belt that the outer arteries like 61, 42, and Hooper are tied to....for better or worse. It's worth investing in.

I asked DOTD if they had plans to fix this problem you state and they said no plans in the foreseeable future.

With all the stop lights between airline in pville to airline at I-110 you'd take just as much time now from Pville to downtown via I-10. I don't envision a benefit.

That's great for people who have decent access to I10 but if you live east of Airline odds are you have crappy access to I10 so it would save this segment a ton of time. Even if they don't complete a loop and have a start/end point near Gonzales it would help a ton.

[Antrell Williams]

I work in the tech park area off Florida but live off of hwy 42 in prairieville close to hwy42/hwy44. From my perspective (concerning daily commute) the biggest problem I face is Hwy 42 itself, Airline from Hwy 42 to Highland, and finally Airline Hwy around Parkview Baptist. These are the specifics of those problems.

 

• Hwy 42 from LA44 to Airline needs to be widened. This project is going to be started this fall with utility moves and then next summer they will start the road work. We are looking at probably a late 2016 or early 2017  completion date at best. The only fix is to add capacity (driving lanes) and turn lanes. At least this is being addressed. The second part is the school busses run during all parts of the morning. I've seen them out at 630 and I've seen them out at 730.
• Airline Hwy from LA42 to Highland. The true problem here starts with the light at LA73 in Prairieville. The issue is simple, they need more driving lanes. DOTD reworked the intersection at LA42 to include Jturns. I will say that it has helped traffic on 42 but made the problem on Airline worse. I still am curious as to what the effects will be when school starts. Between LA42 and Old Perkins the road is already widened however since it's only a mile they have it stripped as turn lanes. The other main issue with this part of the road is Highland. They have to make the light sequence stay green long enough to help highland out between LA73 and Airline. It's a short distance of about half a mile however it's a three lane road (1 each direction + 1 center turn lane). This road stacks very badly so the light for them stays green longer then it should causing traffic to backup on Airline. I know DOTD will never put an overpass here but it would be the best outcome. They also should and hopefully will add an extra driving lane to this short segment of highland.
• Airline Hwy around Parkview is just a matter of two-four laned roads merging into each other with only two continuous lanes. They need to have airline be 4 lanes for the stretch of road that is shared with HWY73. Northbound is almost always stacked morning and evening. The southbound left turn lanes onto Jefferson have a very long green light (which it needs) but this causes the north bound lanes to stack.

 

My wife and I for our next house are considering moving back to EBR just to avoid 1 & 2. There are still good areas in EBR and our low satisfaction primarily stems from traffic and lack of planning in Ascension parish. The only thing that keeps us is the fact that Ascension has really good schools. Livingston also has decent schools so we may decide to move a little further north but I don't think in 2 years we will be living in Ascension parish. I know several of our neighbors are very unhappy with the area and would move back to EBR if it weren't for the schools. Some have said screw it and moved anyway and are paying for private school if they can afford to.

All of Hwy 42 actually needs to be widened, by 2020 traffic will be heavy from Livingston Parish. Hwy 42 should have been extended to I-10 but private development is in the way, by way of no planning. The school buses bus high school and primary school on the same buses. Middle schools have their own separate buses. 

 

Airline needs to be widened all the way to I-10 to be honest. At the least to Hwy 22. It helps to build for the future and to ensure companies can trust our road network with time sensitive equipment on their trucks. There's one huge problem with the Airline/73 intersection, and that is that it's a split intersection. During school hours it's a complete and utter cluster frick.

 

Funny that you would say that traffic is such an important factor that you would move back into EBR. Many people think that is impossible. It's one of my main reasons for hating this area.

[cajun]

It's good they are doing it south of Highland.....but the area between Bluebonnet and Highland needs it as well.

The section between Florida and Plank may be even worse.

[Antrell Williams]

Not to mention that lack of physical space.

[cajun]

Not to mention that lack of physical space.

For widening Airline? I can think of a couple of choke points for crossings and overpasses, but route largely has generous right of way.

[Antrell Williams]

For widening Airline? I can think of a couple of choke points for crossings and overpasses, but route largely has generous right of way.

True, it can be a tight squeeze in some places like between Tom and Choctaw.

[richyb83]

True! The widening of Airline Hwy from Florida Blvd to Coursey/Bluebonnet was nice...but not nearly enough! It should have been widened from the old Hwy.190 Miss. River bridge into Ascension Parish. Of course this would mean widening the bridge at Bayou Manchac too.

[all2neat]

All of Hwy 42 actually needs to be widened, by 2020 traffic will be heavy from Livingston Parish. Hwy 42 should have been extended to I-10 but private development is in the way, by way of no planning. The school buses bus high school and primary school on the same buses. Middle schools have their own separate buses.

Airline needs to be widened all the way to I-10 to be honest. At the least to Hwy 22. It helps to build for the future and to ensure companies can trust our road network with time sensitive equipment on their trucks. There's one huge problem with the Airline/73 intersection, and that is that it's a split intersection. During school hours it's a complete and utter cluster frick.

Funny that you would say that traffic is such an important factor that you would move back into EBR. Many people think that is impossible. It's one of my main reasons for hating this area.

I know of several people who have the same feeling I have. Honestly, our next home will probably be in a northern Dallas suburb. I've requested to be transferred in about 12 to 18 months. I had several job offers in other areas but I decided to stay here for at least another year. Sadly the real estate market hasn't gone up so I don't quite have enough equity otherwise I would have possibly taken a different job.

[Antrell Williams]

Why move to another suburb? Houston's northern suburbs have TERRIBLE traffic into the city, and I'm not even talking downtown.

[cajun]

All2neat, you should consider Zachary or Central....

[all2neat]

Why move to another suburb? Houston's northern suburbs have TERRIBLE traffic into the city, and I'm not even talking downtown.

 

My particular job function is more common in the suburbs when it comes to the Dallas area in particular Plano. It's not to say I couldn't find that job downtown but financially speaking I could get just of good a job in the suburbs and live there also where the cost of living is cheaper. 

Edited July 30, 2013 by all2neat

[cajun]

My particular job function is more common in the suburbs when it comes to the Dallas area in particular Plano. It's not to say I couldn't find that job downtown but financially speaking I could get just of good a job in the suburbs and live there also where the cost of living is cheaper. 

 

That's my situation now.   I work and live in the suburbs.    Definately go this route if you can.

[Antrell Williams]

My particular job function is more common in the suburbs when it comes to the Dallas area in particular Plano. It's not to say I couldn't find that job downtown but financially speaking I could get just of good a job in the suburbs and live there also where the cost of living is cheaper. 

Gotcha. DFW is different in that it has many smaller established cities outside of Dallas and Ft. Worth.

[cajun]

Why move to another suburb? Houston's northern suburbs have TERRIBLE traffic into the city, and I'm not even talking downtown.

 

It's not so bad on 59.....although that quickly got hairy south of downtown.

 

45 was a nightmare when I was in Houston.   When I lived in town, they were still widening I-10 west of 610.