re: I wish major cities in Louisiana could have the infrastructure of Texas

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I wish major cities in Louisiana could have the infrastructure of Texas

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Planned communities are awesome. The inner city in Texas is by and large just as bad as the inner city in LA, but the burbs have grown so quickly in the last 30 or so years that Texas was able get another crack at it.

LA doesn't really have anything that can compare from a growth and planning standpoint. Best example I can think of in south LA is Youngsville and Broussard, but the scale is nothing close to places like Sugar Land, The Woodlands, Plano, Allen, etc.

Most of it has to do with the size of the cities and "suburbs." Houston, Sugar Land, and The Woodlands has nearly 2 million more people than all of LA combined. If you took all of the upper middle class folks from LA and let them build their own city, you'd get something similar.

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Something like 75% of LA's bridges graded out at a D, or worse.

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Yikes.

I wonder how much of a problem that is nationwide, though. Probably depends on the state, but I feel like there are several out there with bridges even worse for wear, tbh.

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but I feel like there are several out there with bridges even worse for wear, tbh.

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Never forget

Louisiana does things backwards arse. I have been doing design in this state for some time and did design in another state. Louisiana process is sooooo slow it is ridiculous. Also, Texas has slip ramps off the interstate. You mention slip ramps in Louisiana you would think you just committed murder.

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does your wife have a fuel card too?

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She did, until her sammich making skills took a dip. She's on gas card time-out.

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Something like 75% of LA's bridges graded out at a D, or worse.

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I'm not sure of the numbers, but I'd imagine you could argue infrastructure is simply more expensive in LA due to the geology of southern LA and the relatively spread out population. Granted, the population density of Texas is 103 people per square mile compared to 105 people in LA, but those people are much more heavily concentrated in major cities in Texas.

For example, the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area "packs" 800k people into 4,200 square miles. The Greater Austin MSA has 2 million people in 4,300 square miles.

That allows Texas to focus its $1.65T in GDP much more specifically than LA.

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That allows Texas to focus its $1.65T in GDP much more specifically than LA.

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exactly. go to rural texas and those people get short changed big time

lol no shite

Yeah I mean Louisiana has its share of problems, but much of it is uncontrollable due to the way the state has grown as well as the geology of the state.

Think about this for a minute: The Houma/Thibodaux MSA is the 5th largest in the state with 203k people, yet its population density of roughly 90 people per square mile is lower than the average for the entire state.

To really drive home the point, the main highway in the area is Hwy 90, easily one of the worst roads in this country, and it doesn't even go through Thibodaux or Houma.