re: Government Street revamp taking shape

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I was listening to an Econ Talk podcast the other day about how cities can do small, relatively inexspensive things to help spur commerce in areas to redevelop existing infrastructure.

The main thing that needs to happen is for the city to figure out which streets and roads are supposed to do what. Baton Rouge, like many cities, has an abundance of 'stroads' which are a combo of street and road and do neither particularly well.

Roads are meant to move people from one place to another, should have limited stopping and little commericial development. Streets are economic centers. Narrow lanes, easy walkability.

Once they figure out which streets should do what, focusing them will help with both commerce and somewhat with traffic.

It looks like they're figuring out what Gov't St should be and developing it appropriately. A good sign.

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Baton Rouge lacks one critical thing, roadways that connect. That is the number one structural problem. One of the main reason that areas of town suffer is that traffic isolates them. The surface street options are so sparse, that natural choke points have developed, making migrating from one area of town to another an often arduous activity, meaning unless you "really need to go out that way", most people shop and go out to eat relatively close to the neighborhoods where they work and/or live. The reason is that BR's expansion, especially in the 70s until the present, was done so without a real vision or plan. Things and streets were thrown up haphazardly with no regard for increases in future traffic or connectivity, and it shows. Baton Rouge needs to spend a lot of money making roads connect. Look at a map of Baton Rouge on google and see where simple bridges or imminent domain of single buildings or even just small undeveloped lots would allow many streets to be connected and creating more options for motorists. It's not that difficult, it just takes money, vision, and political will.