I have been a resident of Baton Rouge since Fall of 1999 and I have lived in various places throughout the US, primarily South and Southeast for over 25 years. I have traveled the I-10 corridor for all of my life from as far east as it goes and as far west to West Texas. Baton Rouge and Louisiana in general are the worst part of the entire trip including a very recent road trip to Houston which took me over 3 hours to get from Baton Rouge to Lafayette, making the entire trip over 8 hours. I limit my road travel on I-10 specifically because of the daily congestion and issues that plague our portion of the interstate. Living off Essen Lane and having to deal with that primary road way every single day, the traffic issues are never going to improve as long as we keep over populating areas that are already problematic with more traffic.
The Essen Lane expansion was completed recently and has added another headache of these extra lanes to grid lock from the I-10 bridge towards Jefferson Highway during rush hours. The ‘Green Light’ program that has studied and timed the lights now at least 4 times is a complete joke as the light cycles are irrelevant to true traffic flow and residents spend over 30 minutes every morning to get less than ½ mile. We continue to build and promote medical expansion as a future of the ‘medical corridor’ has been proposed to this area however, it is already backed up and further proposed expansion on the interstate affects this area immediately with no resolve. Realistically, I’d like to see someone that fights this daily problem wasting time and resources to have a valid conversation. There are other areas of Baton Rouge that can be expanded and improved to alleviate the traffic patterns we currently have however no one wants to invest in areas that are blighted to bring them back to life given the volatile political scene. I10 should be a Federally funded system that was introduced by Pres Eisenhower in 1956. LA should have plenty of resources to offer viable solutions and taxpayers have paid on numerous bills for this but our state has wasted the resources provided to them over the years on projects that are not related to the project they were slated for. Now we are debating the same issue with new ideas that are obsolete before the ink dries. The ground transportation companies and drivers that have to route through this area have to pay a premium associated with the almost guaranteed extra time it takes to travel through our area. Adding more lanes or roundabouts in areas that don’t even have excess entrance or off ramp traffic is poor design to the defunct system.
A new route routing AROUND Baton Rouge completely needs to be part of the solution instead of continuing to gridlock the same ‘proposed study area’. For viable solutions, there needs to be open and true conversation, not blame and greed. This debate has been ongoing far too long and many billions of dollars have been wasted in ‘studies’ with no result, we need real ideas and we need to get onboard because we will continue to lose in our area due to lack of growth.
Response:
We appreciate your comments and suggestions for solutions. The proposed project is one part of a larger vision to reduce congestion and improve travel time through the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Area. Additional solutions, including a new bridge, are under study. During the Stage 0 Feasibility Study for this project, alternative regional transportation improvements were considered during the traffic study including a new southern Mississippi River Bridge crossing and a Northern Bypass. Though these megaprojects will provide improved traffic flow through the Baton Rouge metro area, the I-10 Improvement through Baton Rouge is necessary to help alleviate congestion through the area.
Comment:
I have been a resident of Baton Rouge since Fall of 1999 and I have lived in various places throughout the US, primarily South and Southeast for over 25 years. I have traveled the I-10 corridor for all of my life from as far east as it goes and as far west to West Texas. Baton Rouge and Louisiana in general are the worst part of the entire trip including a very recent road trip to Houston which took me over 3 hours to get from Baton Rouge to Lafayette, making the entire trip over 8 hours. I limit my road travel on I-10 specifically because of the daily congestion and issues that plague our portion of the interstate. Living off Essen Lane and having to deal with that primary road way every single day, the traffic issues are never going to improve as long as we keep over populating areas that are already problematic with more traffic.
The Essen Lane expansion was completed recently and has added another headache of these extra lanes to grid lock from the I-10 bridge towards Jefferson Highway during rush hours. The ‘Green Light’ program that has studied and timed the lights now at least 4 times is a complete joke as the light cycles are irrelevant to true traffic flow and residents spend over 30 minutes every morning to get less than ½ mile. We continue to build and promote medical expansion as a future of the ‘medical corridor’ has been proposed to this area however, it is already backed up and further proposed expansion on the interstate affects this area immediately with no resolve. Realistically, I’d like to see someone that fights this daily problem wasting time and resources to have a valid conversation. There are other areas of Baton Rouge that can be expanded and improved to alleviate the traffic patterns we currently have however no one wants to invest in areas that are blighted to bring them back to life given the volatile political scene. I10 should be a Federally funded system that was introduced by Pres Eisenhower in 1956. LA should have plenty of resources to offer viable solutions and taxpayers have paid on numerous bills for this but our state has wasted the resources provided to them over the years on projects that are not related to the project they were slated for. Now we are debating the same issue with new ideas that are obsolete before the ink dries. The ground transportation companies and drivers that have to route through this area have to pay a premium associated with the almost guaranteed extra time it takes to travel through our area. Adding more lanes or roundabouts in areas that don’t even have excess entrance or off ramp traffic is poor design to the defunct system.
A new route routing AROUND Baton Rouge completely needs to be part of the solution instead of continuing to gridlock the same ‘proposed study area’. For viable solutions, there needs to be open and true conversation, not blame and greed. This debate has been ongoing far too long and many billions of dollars have been wasted in ‘studies’ with no result, we need real ideas and we need to get onboard because we will continue to lose in our area due to lack of growth.
Response:
We appreciate your comments and suggestions for solutions. The proposed project is one part of a larger vision to reduce congestion and improve travel time through the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Area. Additional solutions, including a new bridge, are under study. During the Stage 0 Feasibility Study for this project, alternative regional transportation improvements were considered during the traffic study including a new southern Mississippi River Bridge crossing and a Northern Bypass. Though these megaprojects will provide improved traffic flow through the Baton Rouge metro area, the I-10 Improvement through Baton Rouge is necessary to help alleviate congestion through the area.