re: Proposed Toll/Loop Along Airline in BR

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s this going to solve our traffic problem?

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Baton Rouge doesn't have A traffic problem, it has alot of problems that manifest into a giant clusterf**k traffice situation. This plan addresses one of those problems by giving vehicles and alternate route to cross the river. If you read the actually plan you will find out why. The plan will triple the capacity of Airline highway and allow drivers to cross the river without having to stop at redlights or toll booths. So does this fix the BR traffic situation? No, but it is a good first step and it alleviates the problem of congestion on the I-10 river bridge. Luckily the ppl that designed the project know more about this stuff than Louisiana politicans or TD posters because they designed it to be compatiable with a new southern bridge and a loop from Walker.

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The loop should be south of I-10, not north.

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Good thing the plan is designed to be compatiable with that idea if and when one ever materializes.

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The BUMP project as described in
this proposal is included in the DOTD's
draft Statewide Transportation Plan
Update, released April 2014. The STPU
identifies the statewide set of megaprojects
that are needed to solve
capacity or other issues. The final STPU
including the BUMP project wilt be
issued by DOTD in 2015.
The BUMP is compatible with and
complementarytothe north part of the
Baton Rouge Loop, a section that
begins on US 61 (BUMP) at Plank Road
and extends to 1-12 east of Watker, a
distance of about 25 miles. This section
of the overall Loop project, which
currently is in a Tier 1 EIS phase, has
been identified as the potential first
project to move forward. The next
steps for this would be a potential Tier
2 EIS and identification of funding.
Refer to Figure B-8 which shows the
relationship of the BUMP projectto the
proposed Baton Rouge Loop. The
Loop's north section of first priority is
shown in yellow.
The proposed West Side
Expressway (WSE) is a new facility
paralleling the Mississippi River on its
west side between Baton Rouge and
New Orleans. The WSE is included in
the DOTD's Statewide Transportation
Plan Update and has been identified in
the 2014 session of the Louisiana
Legislature for Capital Outlay funding
to begin the planning process. The
BUMP is compatible with and
complementary to the WSE in that the
BUMP directional interchange on 1-10in
West Baton Rouge Parish willserve in a
dual role as the beginning point of the
West Side Expressway and help to
facilitate its implementation.

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Why would East-West freight go all the way down to New Orleans to avoid Baton Rouge?

Trading one traffic nightmare for another. I-12 is the shortest route. They will go through Baton Rouge and continue to do so.

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Exactly.

I also thought it made sense to go south of the city, but it just doesn't work. The people you are trying to get out of the city are the 18 wheelers and other cross country traffic. Local traffic will stay on I10. Duh.

So you have to connect to I12 because no one will go an hour out of their way just to hit Nola....

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It's billion dollar boon doggle that will cut BR and half and solve nothing.

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I want to hear more about how Baton Rouge will be cut in half.

Good plan. There is absolutely no possible way that eastbound traffic could back up at the Airline - I12 connection. Absolutely no way that intersection could back up through the city each and every day. No way.

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Good plan. There is absolutely no possible way that eastbound traffic could back up at the Airline - I12 connection. Absolutely no way that intersection could back up through the city each and every day. No way.

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The graphic says they'd have to rework that interchange.

I've seen no better solution to Baton Rouge traffic so far.

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Luckily the ppl that designed the project know more about this stuff than Louisiana politicans or TD posters

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These are the same people that designed I-10 East with a bend at the foot of a bridge at the same point it funnels down to one lane, merges with another interstate spur, and threw in a useless exit only lane just for funsies.

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It's billion dollar boon doggle that will cut BR and half and solve nothing.

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Wrong on both accounts. Airline the shortest alternative route already....so it would draw more traffic from I-10/I-12 than the other solutions.

It follows an existing under-utilized route with a wide right of way....so if this "cuts the city in half", then Airline Highway is already doing just that.

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definitely better go for more than 3 miles south of 12. Ideally, improve that fricker 61 all the way to I-10 at Grammercy. Righhhtt

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At the very least, Airline south needs to be 6 or 8 lanes with a very generous median wide enough for even the largest trucks to make U-turns. They need to take out some of those traffic lights.

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I can guarandamntee you that's not a design decision and it's solely a social appeasement issue.

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The reasons it was designed that way are unimportant. The reasons don't change the fact that they did it.

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Okay, but don't blame the designers.

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I'm not, really. More an indictment of the entire organization that created that clusterfrick.