re: New Infrastructure Spending Plan likely means a NOLA -Baton Rouge passenger rail link

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The train wouldn’t help folks in Houma or Hammond.

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No, not this train that they’ve been talking about for years now. But if Louisiana wants to come into the 21st century - it should be thinking of ways to improve the area and getting people to places where they should be - instead of just being a victim and not doing anything

If the train between BR and NOLA could work - it could open a lot of possibilities for all of south Louisiana

Was not aware of CATS getting that funding. When I left BR there was the huge uproar on canceling routes elsewhere in the parish for more downtown routes and who was paying yada yada.

Maybe a light rail down the new skinny government street is the solution.

Seriously though, getting door to door service is going to be hard. It could stop at Catfish town and people would want it to go to the Capitol or Towne Centre. There will likely have to be secondary transportation, or maybe an eventual upgrade to turn the route and actually end it downtown.

Sorry I'm not a poor?

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The METRA trains I take when not working from home hold about about 1500 people each. Wouldn't shock me if the average income of those train riders is substantially higher than the wealthiest zip code in Louisiana. And likely far more educated.

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Yeah but isn't LA like one of the worst if not the worst state in the US? Not really saying much as they are well below avg. But dat Phase 3 doe!

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Was not aware of CATS getting that funding. When I left BR there was the huge uproar on canceling routes elsewhere in the parish for more downtown routes and who was paying yada yada.

Maybe a light rail down the new skinny government street is the solution.

Seriously though, getting door to door service is going to be hard. It could stop at Catfish town and people would want it to go to the Capitol or Towne Centre. There will likely have to be secondary transportation, or maybe an eventual upgrade to turn the route and actually end it downtown.

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They just let the city vote and their funded doubled.

Find where the jobs are that these commuters are going to go to and take that into account before you build a new terminal no one will use.

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It would give people opportunities to work in a city with jobs but able to live where they are without the constant expense of a car. Or the huge expense of commuting.

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There are many in this thread that underestimate the costs of owning and operating a car for commuting purposes.

Even jobs like draftsman or executive assistant are not high paying, but are significantly higher paid in NOLA than outlying areas.

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Unlike METRA, both ends of this rail line will be book ended by cities with employment centers within walking distance. The intermediate stops will be traditional commuter rail platforms with parking lots because they aren't walkable. That's very typical for commuter lines through suburban areas.

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Amtrak =/= METRA

This plan for BR/Nola is Amtrak. There won’t be stops along the route.

I'm not following what you are saying. Are you saying Amtrak is only point to point with no stops?

Correct. Then the commuter route is built on that connection.

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Government St at 14 is not Downtown. Any terminal not in Downtown BR is in the wrong place. It’s obvious. That part of the plan is flawed.

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It's a 2 mile drive to the State Capitol (just north of downtown), 1.5 miles to the IBM building (northwest downtown), the DOTD headquarters (northeast downtown), or the Water Campus (just southeast of downtown), 1.3 miles to the Hilton Capitol Center or the River Center (east downtown), and 0.7 miles to the Chevron office (central downtown). So pretty much all of Downtown Baton Rouge is accessible within a 2 mile Uber, about 5 minutes driving or a 30 minute walk (40 minutes at a leisurely pace). That's not a flawed location, that's pretty damned good access to the entire area.

Outside of downtown, it's a 3.5 mile drive to Tiger Stadium, 3 miles to the Student Union, 2.5 miles to the LSU Law Center or to BRCC, 2 miles to the Perkins overpass, 1.5 miles to CHS and SJA (east of downtown) or to Knock Knock Children's Museum in the park, and 0.9 miles to BRMHS. I give these distances as points of reference so anyone can figure out which businesses and neighborhoods are in that same range. This is also things that are there now and not things which could potentially be there with access to improved transit.

Downtown BR also has the "trolley" and several CATS routes for people who are so inclined to use that instead of just walking. LSU / CATS could add a connecting bus route to the LSU Tiger Trails system easily enough. It's actually half a mile shorter to the Union (2.5 miles) or Tiger Stadium (3 miles) if you walk (1 hour) or bike (15 minutes) using Dalrymple, too. That's shorter than a walk around the lakes (which is 4 miles, 1 hour and 20 minutes). Sure, the plan to have street car/light rail between Government and Tiger Stadium and along Government to BRCC or Independence Park would have been more ideal, but Broome and company killed that proposal in 2018.