West Baton Rouge

[richyb83]

Same crap..different day...been talking abt this for  10 years to the day on this thread! AND see me  baffled  in above post 5 years ago!!!

How can anybody be so BACKWARD thinking???  2-lane?? HAS TO BE 4!!!!     What if CAT#4 Hurricane Harvey had made landfall in LA today  instead of TX?? GOOD GRIEF is right CAjun!!!   La. Hwy 1 needs HELP!!! 

GLAD they said it for us....IT's 2017....NOT 1950!!!!

West Baton Rouge Parish Council pledges $1.4 million as local share for developing connector project

PORT ALLEN — The West Baton Rouge Parish Council pledged Thursday night to put up the $1.4 million it will take to secure state and federal funding needed to push the proposed La. 1/La. 415 connector project into the final stages of development.

The $1.4 million from the parish would serve as the matching funds to an 80/20 grant from the Capital Region Planning Commission, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, and U.S. Federal Highway Administration.

Kevin Durbin, director of the parish's public works department, told council members the parish has submitted an application to the state in hopes of securing the additional $7 million to draft final construction plans for the project, which has been gestating for more than a decade. 

"They need a resolution committing this body to the 20 percent match if we are awarded, which we won't know until probably January," Durbin said.

Parish President Riley "Pee Wee" Berthelot has spent nearly 10 years trying to secure state funding for the connector project. Local officials have said the need has escalated over the years as traffic woes throughout the Baton Rouge region continue to intensify. 

The daily traffic issues plaguing much of East Baton Rouge Parish have spilled across the Interstate 10 Mississippi River bridge into West Baton Rouge causing constant traffic snarls along La. 1 South in Port Allen. 

It has become common for traffic along La. 1 to stretch almost to the Brusly town limits as cars line up waiting to cross the bridge and the Intracoastal Waterway. 

The connector route would create an alternative route for drivers trying to migrate between the northern and southern corners of the parish. 

Preliminary plans involve building a four-lane toll road linking La. 415 to La. 1 in Port Allen. The route, which would also require the construction of a new bridge across the Intracoastal Waterway, has an estimated price tag of $125 million.

But Berthelot said Thursday there has been talk of reducing the proposed connector route from four lanes to two in order to lower the costs because the likelihood of getting federal money to pay for it could take years given the country's financial straits.

That news didn't set well with Council Chairman Garry Spillman.

"Two lanes to me sounds like we're going backwards instead of forward," he said. "If it costs more, that's OK. Let's not try and follow the same thing the state does and build things for 1950 instead of 2017." 

Councilman Barry Hugghins expressed similar sentiments. 

"Of course I understand we can only get what we can pay for," he said. "I think we need to plan for the future." 

http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/communities/westside/article_49209260-8904-11e7-bc1a-1fcb1dd65618.html

Edited August 26, 2017 by richyb83

[cajun]

I think they are trying to do what Baton Rouge did for the Central Thruway.   Local government covers the cost of a two lane road, but hope for federal or state funding to expand the scope to 4 lanes.

And I'm not even going to be shy about it.   LA1 being a clusterf-ck is entirely on the state's inability to maintain its own infrastructure.   This is caused by decades and decades of mismanagement and prioritization of the needs of other regions over Baton Rouge.   There is nothing West Baton Rouge could have done to avoid the bottleneck created by the canal and the lock.   They built the shipping canal right there, and they need to help provide funding for an alternative route over the darn thing - even if it is just a couple of draw bridges.

It's absurd that LA 1 is only 4 lanes over the canal or that there isn't an alternative route, and it is massively offensive to demand increased tax revenue (especially aiming this argument to Baton Rouge taxpayers) to cover state and federal transportation projects in Baton Rouge when the area was completely ignored during the last infrastructure initiative (TIMED).   They could have built 4 Audubon Bridges and probably 30 LA415 connectors for what it costs to add a lane to the Huey Long bridge in New Orleans.   Baton Rouge got nothing out of that $4.6 billion dollar state initiative.

Edited August 28, 2017 by cajun

[richyb83]

Well said Cajun...beyond frustrating at this point....a new bridge over the Intracoastal via Hwy 415 is imperative; esp for Hurricane evacuation route

A growing number of young homebuyers are choosing the other side of the Mississippi River

West Baton Rouge was the state’s sixth fastest-growing parish from 2014 to 2016, with 2.56% population increase, according to the Census Bureau and Nola.com, though still trailing the growth in Baton Rouge’s other suburban parishes—Ascension and Livingston, the state’s top-growing parishes, respectively. Growth in outlying parishes is due, in large part, to the exodus from Baton Rouge. While most flock to Ascension and Livingston, West Baton Rouge is gaining residents as well, especially as a number of offices and jobs have moved to the revitalized downtown area, right across the river.

https://www.businessreport.com/realestate/west-baton-rouge-homebuyers-mississippi-bridge

[dan326]

I wouldn't mind living over there but it's just too much traffic on that bridge at certain times of the day.

[dan326]

River Ranch-type project in Port Allen unveiled 10-plus years ago. Today it's still a soybean field.

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/business/article_5cbafda6-5185-11e9-97de-e731dcd61a94.html

The 256-acre site that since 2008 has been slated for an ambitious traditional neighborhood development stands today strewn with railroad ties, soybean fields and overgrown grass.

He mentioned the recession, housing crisis and the notorious traffic issues plaguing La. 1 that fronts the project as among the barriers to completion. It’s also a costly endeavor, and one that doesn’t start generating funds until there’s already been significant outlay.

On 3/20/2018 at 3:44 PM, dan326 said:

I wouldn't mind living over there but it's just too much traffic on that bridge at certain times of the day.

Update: Too much traffic most of the day lol!

[greg225]

Large Conn's warehouse planned for budding shipping development in West Baton Rouge        https://www.wbrz.com/news/large-conn-s-warehouse-planned-for-budding-shipping-development-in-west-baton-rouge/

[richyb83]

Nearly half a century later, key vote coming on 3-mile flyover with 4 lanes in West Baton Rouge

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/legislature/article_b447235a-71ac-11e9-bc12-47db4311f007.html

Some Serious looking "Curves" on this Map; along this badly needed New Route + New Intracoastal Bridge

[cajun]

On 5/13/2019 at 11:15 PM, richyb83 said:

Nearly half a century later, key vote coming on 3-mile flyover with 4 lanes in West Baton Rouge

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/legislature/article_b447235a-71ac-11e9-bc12-47db4311f007.html

Some Serious looking "Curves" on this Map; along this badly needed New Route + New Intracoastal Bridge

This was approved and is funded.  

I'm shocked, and pleasantly surprised.   

[dan326]

3 hours ago, cajun said:

This was approved and is funded.  

I'm shocked, and pleasantly surprised.   

Ikr.

[cajun]

There's an effort to recruit industry and distribution employers to West Baton Rouge.    

 

Here's a layout of the new industrial park with about 10 rail spurs branching off of the new interchange yard just north of Port Allen: