Road Rants!

[fla_tiger]

I'll start with Florida Blvd. The roadway surface on that segment between N. Foster Dr and Airline Hwy is in a seriously deteriorating condition. After rainfalls, large chunks lift up and become deep potholes. Does LDOT have any plans to resurface? The conditions from N Foster to River Rd and from Airline east are good.

[brresident]

Let me try one:

You gotta love how well synchronized the traffic lights are around Baton Rouge. They are not the least bit frustrating EVERY FRIGGIN WHERE YOU GO!

[richyb83]

Hey flatiger Thanks for starting this topic! It's been a little while since I have been on that stretch of Florida Blvd. But I can believe it! That is too major a corridor to let that just go. Could you possibly find out that info on the DOTD Website?? They need to get on that ASAP. Hopefully they are aware of this problem?

Given Louisiana's soil content on top of the heat, humidity, and heavy rains it doesn't take long for the roads to get some big-time potholes.

My road rants is how they could allow O'Neal Lane and Perkins Road(from Essen to Siegen) to stay only "two lanes" for so long, yet 5-lane Tiger Bend Road?? That makes absolutely no sense at all.

[richyb83]

Hey brresident. You are exactly right!!! The traffic lights around here SUCK!!! Are there any synchronized lights anywhere in this city??? They are supposed to do that many major streets with millions of $$?? And even a bigger joke; the project "starting soon" for traffic lights downtown has not been touched since the 60's. What ashame, how can all those idiots with backwards thinking and no vision allow this for so long????

6:00 A.M. Major street "Red"....for no reason while the little side street sits "green"?? That's just messed up, then a cop wants to give people tickets....what happened to yellow caution lights at those late/early hours. Stop & Go stupidity!

[brresident]

Hey brresident. You are exactly right!!! The traffic lights around here SUCK!!! Are there any synchronized lights anywhere in this city??? They are supposed to do that many major streets with millions of $$?? And even a bigger joke; the project "starting soon" for traffic lights downtown has not been touched since the 60's. What ashame, how can all those idiots with backwards thinking and no vision allow this for so long????

6:00 A.M. Major street "Red"....for no reason while the little side street sits "green"?? That's just messed up, then a cop wants to give people tickets....what happened to yellow caution lights at those late/early hours. Stop & Go stupidity!

Smarter traffic lights in America would decrease the use of gasoline. I don't see why there isn't some federal program to do this.

If I had one complaint about Baton Rouge (I have many) it would be to start using smarter traffic lights....or at least repair the old ones with the detectors in the road. There are a dozen intersections that are broken and leave the light on green when there is no traffic.

Acadian, Perkins, and pretty much every street in Baton Rouge except for Florida blvd really sucks. I totally understand why you'd want to take the freeway. You spend more time sitting at a traffic light than you do moving- burns more gas, puts more stress on your car, and really flares bad tempers. Drivers are bad enough, but we have to be mad at the stupidity that is our Public Works department.

[dan326]

O'Neal does need to be widened. I can remember teetering on the edge of those huge ditches.

Also has anybody ever thought that maybe they need to make a segment of interstate to connect I-10/I-12 at the "ends"(O'Neal&Siegen/Highland)?

[richyb83]

Another road rant....I-12's "bottleneck" from 6 lanes to 4 lanes at O'Neal Lane. Tuesday a 33 year old woman was killed; as was her 8 month old unborn baby. When an 18-wheeler lost control due to traffic cogestion nearly stppoing, jackknifed, causing it's load of 40 foot pipes to crush the vehicle. This was not even "rush-hour" traffic!

*Related story on I-12 from BR to Hammond

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/7896887.html

Brendan Rush with DOTD said widening the interstate from O

[richyb83]

Related Story....

Local Truckers Complain about Road Conditions on I-12

Here's what WAFB had to say about it yesterday...

(crash scene aerial included)

http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=6628801

[brresident]

Related Story....

Local Truckers Complain about Road Conditions on I-12

Here's what WAFB had to say about it yesterday...

(crash scene aerial included)

http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=6628801

In all fairness, the roads do suck around here....and I know what stretch they are talking about.

In the accident mentioned above, the truck driver lost control and killed a pregnant woman. I don't know the details, but I read in the paper that the truck was moving too quickly, switching lanes, and tailgating (way to agressive for a 40 ton vehicle). You've heard me rant before- most truckers in this state drive dangerously because the state police don't enforce lane disipline. You notice a change as soon as you cross into louisiana from Mississippi or Texas...most truckers switch to the left lane and slow down. If they have a problem with our road conditions, then I encourage them to drive through another state to avoid Louisiana. They cause most of the problems anyways.

We should tax them more anyways. They weight 30xs more than a normal car and I10-I12 sees way more than it's fair share of freight.

[tallbored]

In all fairness, the roads do suck around here....and I know what stretch they are talking about.

In the accident mentioned above, the truck driver lost control and killed a pregnant woman. I don't know the details, but I read in the paper that the truck was moving too quickly, switching lanes, and tailgating (way to agressive for a 40 ton vehicle). You've heard me rant before- most truckers in this state drive dangerously because the state police don't enforce lane disipline. You notice a change as soon as you cross into louisiana from Mississippi or Texas...most truckers switch to the left lane and slow down. If they have a problem with our road conditions, then I encourage them to drive through another state to avoid Louisiana. They cause most of the problems anyways.

We should tax them more anyways. They weight 30xs more than a normal car and I10-I12 sees way more than it's fair share of freight.

True that. Way to much truck traffic on I 10, and the vast majority of them drive like complete jerks.

[Gauge]

We should tax them more anyways. They weight 30xs more than a normal car and I10-I12 sees way more than it's fair share of freight.

Sounds like a good idea in theory. However, I think if we tried to do that we may run into some problems via the commerce clause.

If/when the Baton Rouge loop is ever finished, I would like to see all 18 wheelers that are only passing through be required to take the loop. There may be enforcement problems with this though. (but, hopefully truckers would want to take the loop). There may even be commerce clause issues with this idea though since the loops will be toll roads.

In any case, it would be great to get these trucks off I 10/12 through Baton Rouge. Both from a saftey and a traffic standpoint.

[richyb83]

Adding to something I wish I did not have to...this is a Dangerous Stretch of Road!

Last night at 10:25p.m.

Second Deadly Crash at I-12 and O'Neal Lane in Just Over 2 Weeks!

http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=6693658

More Semi-Trucks involved; You are exactly right Gauge, If a Interstate By-Pass is built?? Make it "mandatory" for these large trucks to by-pass and avoid the city altogether!

And......Today

I-12 Shut-Down at the I-10/I-12 split

http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=6692620

More of those large pipes involved!

[twstdndmntd]

I am all for the loop around BR. I do, however, have a problem with the proposal. For starters I think the loop is too big and takes more "tourist" if you will away from the city. It needs to be closer in. Secondly, I think doing the northern portion of the loop first is way off. The southern section needs to be done first. We have to many people coming from Livingston Parish and Acension Parish that are going to the south shore of the Mississippi River to go to work in those plants. It makes no sense to do the northern section first, whats on the other side of the river where that section will be heading? You do the section that is needed the most first, which is the section connecting 10/12 and the section to the south of the city.

[richyb83]

I agree totally twstdndmntd Doing the northern-half of the loop 1st makes absolutely no sense at all, it should go last! The southern-half should be done first; Esp. if the New Orleans area has to evacuate again, they could avoid the I-10/12 split and funneled grid-lock in BR. A Ascension-WBR Connector; and yes the Livingston/Ascension connector as well.

You make a good point on not making the loop no too far out.

I'm still trying to understand the new Audubon Bridge between St.Francisville and New Roads. Maybe it's needed, but because of this, the Airline Hwy(Hwy.190) Bridge will have to be upgraded to Interstate standards. Because I don't ever see a new bridge going between Airline Hwy. and Audubon Bridge.

[bluff2085]

Awesome thread. I agree the Southern loop first makes much more sense.

Connectivity in core BR is a major issue especially the lack of N-S connections between the interstates and other E-W arteries like Corporate/Old Hammond and Perkins. Others have pointed it out too many times. No wonder College is such a clusterf*** Who in their right mind would wait 20+ minutes to get from Perkins to the east-bound I-10 on-ramp if another N-S connector was down the street [not Acadian!]. We need a road bisecting Perkins b/t College and Essen with Interstate accessibility and 4 lanes! Until then, barring any advances in hovercraft and teleporting technologies, College will still operate as a parking lot 3-4 hours daily.

And the street-side ditches on certain sections of roads like Perkins and Highland add an unnecessary element of vulnerability to nighttime drivers, especially during poor weather conditions. Curbs/sidewalks/buffers of any kind would help. It would also be convenient to have some east-bound on-ramps at I-10 for Dalrymple and Perkins even though I can see how these wouldn't be that feasible from an engineering/aesthetic standpoint.

[richyb83]

Wow bluff, you make some great points!!!

Unfortunately there is the 400 or more? acre rural oasis called LSU Rural Life Museum/Burden Plantation; right where a bisecting road off Perkins between College and Essen you spoke of would work so well! That's a big problem! Do you ever see them donating some land for that N-S artery?? Little did they know little BR would grow so big around that entire property.

Look how long it took for the owners to sell the large area of undeveloped land(Cedar Lodge horse ranch) that is now Towne Center. Baton Rouge is an overgrown country town now trying to become a legit mid-size city. Hopefully the small town mentality folks will continue to phase out.

The Dalrymple east bound on-ramp is great idea. It's badly needed! There is nothing going east-bound from Louise Street all the way to Acadian Thwy.

[bluff2085]

The rural life museum is a pretty big obstacle. Would preservation issues get heated if someone were to seriously propose building a bisecting road, which would be such a valuable asset to BR citizens? Could be speaking too soon and maybe it's more valuable than I'm giving it credit for, but who knows how valuable that chunk of land would be in terms of real estate. Road infrastructure could be incorporated into PUD/TND type developments, along with some additional public/recreational space.

[BRPJ]

I agree with you all. I don't understand why the northern portion on the loop will be first. The southern portion is actually less distance from one side of

I-10 to the other, and then you could extend it to I-12. More traffic flows to the souther portion of the city. More of the commercial viable outlets are in that direction. and also so the southern portion is more poised to explode exponentially, by making the loop on the southern side. they would have to build a bridge, but I think they should do this. i don't understand whats the big thing about the north side, can some on fill me in. when i looked at the propsed layout, is was far too long, and to far outside the city. They should look at 635 in dallas for a better example. i think we should speak up, or write somebody.

You guys have really good ideas and make great drafts on other things,

How bout we make a proposal and send it to kip holden and the DOTD,

Break out the google earth! lol

[twstdndmntd]

I am so glad to see others agreeing with me on the need for the southern loop first, I thought I was the only one. As far the bisecting 4 lane road from perkins to the interstate, I don't know about that. I think something that would help out the whole issue of traffic on both Essen and College would be more connecting streets between the two. How is it that we have no service roads on the side of our interstates? I think a service road going in between College and Essen would be a big help. I have long said a HUGE problem with traffic in that area is the lack of a sufficient grid pattern. We are all forced onto main roads, we need to dispurse some of this traffic onto other roads. Course we have grown and developed to much to make a complete grid but we can make something of one. As for that Rural Life Museum, that thing just takes up too much room. There is no need. How many people actually go to that thing? BR is not rural it's urban, if you want to see rural go out to Gonzales or something. NOT!!!! knocking anyone who lives in Gonzales.

[richyb83]

Solutions for accidents on I-12 suggested

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/8205917.html

*They need to widen I-12 from O'Neal to at least Walker IMO.

[byrde]

Solutions for accidents on I-12 suggested

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/8205917.html

*They need to widen I-12 from O'Neal to at least Walker IMO.

Hell I-12 needs to be widened all the way to Slidell. That corridor is growing like crazy.

[richyb83]

Wouldn't that be great Bryde?? But I did not want to get too far ahead of myself.

[twstdndmntd]

I agree just widen it from O'neal out to Denham or Walker. That's where most of our metro population is going after work. Why they stopped it where they did is still a mystery to me. Kinda like I10, what was the point of stopping the 3 lanes at the 10/12? At the very least it needs to be 3 lanes out to Highland. As a matter of fact it really needs to be 3 lanes out to Gonzales, but the 3 out to Highland would take a big burden off of the whole area from the split to Siegen. Shoot, just start the 3rd lane where 12 loops onto 10 East.

[richyb83]

Exactly right there on I-10. No reason in the world right now why it should be only 2 lanes between the split and Bluebonnet/Picardy. I was thinking Tanger Mall/Gonzales too. And at least Highland Rd.

While I-12 should be extended all the way thru. I'm just trying to be realistic that they take the extra-lane to at least Walker. The Northshore I-12 could use the extra lane as well.

[brresident]

Exactly right there on I-10. No reason in the world right now why it should be only 2 lanes between the split and Bluebonnet/Picardy. I was thinking Tanger Mall/Gonzales too. And at least Highland Rd.

While I-12 should be extended all the way thru. I'm just trying to be realistic that they take the extra-lane to at least Walker. The Northshore I-12 could use the extra lane as well.

They need to widen I-10 to eight lanes between the I-10/I-110 split to College Drive, then again from the I-10/I-12 split out to LA 73.

Also, I-12 should be six lanes between O'neal and Walker.

The really sad part is that they need to do all of this AND a loop. It seems almost hopeless to me, especially when you consider all of the other state projects needed just as badly, like the I-49 connector through Lafayette, rebuilding the Atchafalya Basin Bridge, and those "rural" timed projects that only urban New Orleans has benefited from.

We need to demand transportation dollers out of our state....and we need to demand very loudly.