re: Dedicated passenger train from Baton Rouge to New Orleans "3-5 years away"

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The gentrification of Nicholson is in full swing.

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I know all that, but what is happening right now.
They have tried to start the river district, but river levels have slowed that project down.

The larger project at LSU and down Nicholson is still being planned. Until I see how these projects go, I'm not ready to tell you a trolley from LSU and downtown is vital.

It may be, but what will the demand be and when will the demand happen? That's the key.

The I-10 and I-12 projects that have been completed have helped traffic immensely; however, until you correct the bottleneck downtown there will still be severe problems.

Continuing to improve I-12 eastward is good too. All of this adds up.

Reality is the I-10/I-12 corridor from the Sabine to the Pearl should be six lanes from border to border and its overdue.

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The day someone from Livingston Parish gets on public transportation is the day Jesus comes back.

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I don't think LP people would even be interested in carpooling.

I worked with guys that lived 1/4 mile apart and worked exactly the same hours. Were great friends and drank beer every afternoon, never once rode together.

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The I-12 expansion has been fantastic. There isn't much complaining to do about that one.

They are going to keep expanding. The plan is to 6 lane I-12 it's entire route.

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I'm not saying it is bad, just giving perspective to how much money is being spent for this project. It is a bargain.

The rail project will never return the $250MM that is invested, yet no road project is held to the same standard.

Hopefully it will just pay for the upkeep, something no road projects do.

Dammit. Season 2 of True Detective could have been set here.

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They have park and ride now, but few people use it. Instead of trains people park and ride the bus to NO, they park and ride the bus from BR suburbs to downtown BR too. At least they did. I don't know if they still offer these services or not because there wasn't a whole lot of interest.

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Park and ride losses its appeal if it is on a bus that has to sit in traffic. That is the advantage of a train it bypasses the traffic.

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irst of all you are talking about two different problems. How would a train from NO to BR and back do much of anything for BR traffic. How many New Orleanians commute to BR every day? Some, but enough to take a dent off BR traffic? I don't think so.

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Read the articles on it. There was an article last year that had the number in the thousands. The train also stops in Gonzalez and the OLOL or MOL area of BR to pickup commuters there. BR drivers spend 42 hours/yr in traffic so there is the need for a commuter train.

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Now a rail line from parts of EBR, Livingston, and Ascension would do more good, but that would require several rail lines from say Walker to BR, Gonzales to BR and these lines would have to interconnect to downtown BR, the hospital corridor, LSU, etc. Just running a train from NO to BR(downtown/midcity) doesn't do much even if it stopped in Gonzales.

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The NOLA to BR line could very easily be extended through LP all the way to Hammond. Look on google maps and all that would need to be done is build a connecting segment to the UP line.

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All this train talk avoids the big problem. What to do with I-10 in downtown BR. It's horrific and the design is crazy. One lane, good entrances and exits, no shoulders, etc. create a huge bottleneck that has been tolerated for way too long and needs to be corrected.

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There is very little that can be done cheaply. What needs to be done to fix the bottleneck in BR would cost billions and take 20 years to only have that fill up. You can't solve congestion by just adding more lanes that has been proven time and time again. To fix I-10 and I-12 in Br this is what you would need:
1. Build new bridge next to the new bridge so you can have HOV and emergency use lanes and redesign the interchange. That will probably cost $1.5 billion.
2. Build the full loop which should cost just short of $5billion even if it is toll roads we will still pay for it.
3. Finish I-49 so some of the truck traffic goes from NOLA-Laffy and not through BR. IDK what the projected cost for that is.
4. 3 lane I-10 from Gonzalez to NOLA which is about 50 miles and the last figure I heard thrown around was it cost $1million/mile to expand an interstate, but that was in '08 so it is probably much more.

The train on the other hand could carry thousands of commuters/day and bypass all that. SELA needs to do an all of the above with to prepare for 2030-2050. Ther has been alot of talk about the BR-NOLA corrifor being the next Austin-SA type boom and if (big if) that happens there is no way to fixing congestion by just addressing the car.

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It's expensive, but I believe it to be a very worthwhile project, and just the start to something much bigger and better. What I envision is a commuter rail network in South Louisiana with stops all along 190 that would connect Houston, Beaumont, Lake Charles, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Denham Springs, Walker, Hammond, Covington, and Slidell.

You would have the Northshore Express which would run from Slidell to Baton Rouge

The Ponchetrain Express would Make a loop around the lake with stops in Covington, Hammond, La Place, Kenner, Metairie, New Orleans CBD, New Orleans Bywater, and Slidell.

Then there would be the Oil Line which is an express train with stops only in New Orleans CBD, MSY, downtown BR, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Beaumont, and Houston.

Finally, the current River Queen Line of downtown BR, OLOL, Blue Bayou/Dixie Landin' (potential future stop), Gonzales, LaPlace, MSY, Zephyr, CBD

The main stations for transfers would be Downtown BR (Oil Line, River Queen Line, Northshore Express), Hammond, LaPlace, MSY, and CBD

In the future, there would also be a Westbank "Chem" Express that would have stops in Downtown BR and Exxon before crossing the Old Bridge, then Port Allen (there would be shuttles from this stop to surrounding plants and major facilities funded through partnerships with local employers), Dow, Plaquemine, Donaldsonville (more shuttles), Vacherie, Taft, Luling, Avondale, and then reconnect with the River Queen Line at MSY after going over the Huey P. That would be great for plant workers. I can only imagine how many people in BR would take that to avoid sitting in Bridge traffic trying to get home from Dow.

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All of that would be awesome and hopefully by 2050 will be a reality. Once the train is approved and if it works expansion will be easy. The track already exists and if the river line (as you called it) is relieving traffic and making commuting easier for south BR and AP commuters than the east BR and LP commuters will want it. Same thing with the commuters on the northshore wanting to go to NOLA. With SELA Louisiana's geography problems of massive river, wetlands, and poor soil roads will never be able to keep up. The only problem with your plan is that there is no railraod connecting mid-city Br to downtown Laffy and no railroad connecting Slidell and Hammond (atleast from what I can see on google maps) but all the other track already exists so it would just have to be upgraded which is much cheaper than building interstate or loops.

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The only problem with your plan is that there is no railraod connecting mid-city Br to downtown Laffy and no railroad connecting Slidell and Hammond (atleast from what I can see on google maps) but all the other track already exists so it would just have to be upgraded which is much cheaper than building interstate or loops.

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You're right about downtown Laffy. There would have to be a rail line built from Opelousas to Lafayette because the tracks that once connected them no longer exist.

The same is true from Hammond to Slidell. Those tracks are now the Tammany Trace walking and biking trail.

Basically, it would just mean that at first, the oil express wouldn't have a Lafayette stop and that the northshore line would turn at Hammond and end at La Place instead of continuing on to Slidell. Then, once the lines to Covington and Slidell are complete, the Northshore line and Ponchetrain express can be completed.

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You're right about downtown Laffy. There would have to be a rail line built from Opelousas to Lafayette because the tracks that once connected them no longer exist.

The same is true from Hammond to Slidell. Those tracks are now the Tammany Trace walking and biking trail.

Basically, it would just mean that at first, the oil express wouldn't have a Lafayette stop and that the northshore line would turn at Hammond and end at La Place instead of continuing on to Slidell. Then, once the lines to Covington and Slidell are complete, the Northshore line and Ponchetrain express can be completed.

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Those could all be done I was just pointing out that there currently isn't track. The river line could also be expanded to north BR (so we aren't racist) and the BR airport to help improve connectivity. There is potential for a world class commuter rail network in SELA, but with the corrupt and inept politicans and a population that has no desire to plan for the future we will probably never see it.

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the biggest issue is transportation funds not going to transportation.

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We spend almost 4x on roads and bridges than we bring in from gas tax. The money is making it there, just not enough.