The doors were opening Thursday afternoon to enable the West Baton Rouge Parish Public Scoping Meeting and Open House on the Baton Rouge Loop to get under way.
David Barber, of the Antonio community near Brusly, was in no hurry to go inside the Community Center in Port Allen. He was unloading plastic stand-up signs like those used by political candidates.
The signs called on West Baton Rouge Parish residents to “say no” to plans for any new Mississippi River bridge serving the parish downstream of the present Interstate 10 span linking Port Allen and Baton Rouge.
“I got the signs this morning,” Barber said. “You pay a lot more for them when you get them quick.”
Projected to cost about $4 billion and take eight to 10 years to build, the 90- to 100-mile loop is needed, backers say, to lighten traffic loads on Interstates 10 and 12 through East Baton Rouge and adjacent parishes, while opening potential new areas to economic and residential development.
This week, Baton Rouge Loop planners held public open houses on the project in Baton Rouge, Gonzales, Denham Springs and Port Allen. The fifth and final session in the series is scheduled in Iberville Parish from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday at the Plaquemine Civic Center, 24700 J. Gerald Beret Blvd., Plaquemine.
People who live in the Antonio community began mobilizing a week before Thursday’s session on the proposed loop project. Barber said concerned Antonians distributed a letter, bought an advertisement in the weekly West Side Journal newspaper and sent e-mails.
Grumbling about the loop arose at a meeting of the Antonio Homeowners Association on Tuesday.
The motivating factor was a statement by Parish President Riley “Peewee” Berthelot that loop planners are considering an Interstate-type road between Emily Drive and Alene Street (in the Brusly area) with a new bridge over the Mississippi River at Cinclare.
Cinclare, a historic sugar mill site, quickly became a focal point of those opposing the loop dipping down into the Brusly area, but they also warned that such a bridge would be close to area schools and would likely feed increased traffic into residential areas.
Association member Babs Babin circulated an e-mail saying West Baton Rouge Parish, with its small land area, already has two Mississippi River bridges.
Babin’s e-mail included a flier urging those opposed to a Brusly-area bridge to attend Thursday’s loop meeting in Port Allen, or the loop meeting planned for Monday in Plaquemine. The handout called on residents to complete questionnaires and to give an opinion in opposition to a Brusly-area bridge.
An unsigned flier was placed on all cars in the Addis Community Center parking lot Tuesday, while the West Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce was conducting its annual meeting and banquet.
That flier called for eliminating a bridge in the Brusly and Addis areas from the plan, proposing no bridge in West Baton Rouge south of Interstate 10, and substituting one south of Plaquemine.
Producers of both fliers said they support the concept of the Baton Rouge Loop, but oppose a new Mississippi bridge in their backyards.
Berthelot was surrounded as the loop open house began, with about 30 people voicing a variety of objections to a bridge near Cinclare.
“A final route has not been chosen,” Berthelot said during an interview about the loop plans. “That’s why we hire engineers — to look for the best route.”
Berthelot said he had heard complaints that the Cinclare-area bridge proposal is part of a deal with Pinnacle Entertainment Inc., which is planning to build a casino-resort in Baton Rouge.
“I don’t even know where their property is,” Berthelot said.
The unique plan being formed for a private-pubic partnership to build the loop, Berthelot said, is a “financial model,” but he does not know specifics about it.
“If you went up a thousand feet in a plane and looked down,” Berthelot said, “trying to find the spot for a bridge where there is the least number of homes to be moved — the least disruption — you’d pick the Cinclare site.”
Berthelot said decisions are also being reviewed by five parish presidents, and he said a decision on the bridge site would be based on what is best for the entire region.
Mike Bruce, of ABMB Engineering, said many bridge routes were considered. He said some sites were eliminated by the U.S. Coast Guard.
“Many sites were eliminated by navigation requirements,” Bruce said. “There were 13 proposed sites, and we’re down to five.”
Inside the Community Center, Dan and Jayne Jason of Port Allen were taking in all the displays. They were concerned about how the routes selected would affect their neighborhood.
The couple echoed an often-heard complaint that the proposed routes are too compact, simply diverting traffic, rather than establishing a true, wide loop around Baton Rouge.
There was one aspect on which planners and opponents of the plan were united. Both were asking the hundreds of people attending the open house to fill out and turn in their comment cards.
Source: The Advocate
