[Anthony_JK]

Personally, I would favor a southern bypass portion as a means of providing a more direct connection of I-10 bypassing Baton Rouge...but I don't feel that the northern loop is neccesary or needed. I believe that improving and widening existing I-10 from I-110 to I-12, reworking the I-10/I-110 Split interchange to get rid of the left exits and the bottleneck where I-10 East gets reduced to an auxillary lane for the Washington Street exit, and widening I-12 past the I-10/I-12 Split, would be far more cost effective, and would not need tolling, either.

In my view, this would be a better alternative:

1) Better access control on Airline Highway/US 190 from LA 415 to I-12, including a grade separation at the Airline Hwy./CN crossing and intersection with Choctaw Drive, and if feasible, a rework of the Old Mississippi River Bridge similar to what New Orleans is doing with the Huey P. Long Bridge.

2) Upgrade US 61 (Scenic Hwy.) from the I-110 terminus to the proposed John James Audobon Bridge connection near St. Francisville to Interstate standards (or at least with greater access control).

3) Extend LA 415 as a 4-lane divided highway from its present end at I-10 to connect with LA 1 near Brusly or Addis.

4) Upgrade LA 1 from Port Allen to Donaldsonville to at least expressway (if not freeway) standards (with bypasses at Brusly, Addis, Plaquemine, and Donaldsonville), and improve the existing connections with LA 70 and the Sunshine Bridge to I-10 and Gonzales.

5) Build a new bridge across the Mississippi River near Plaquemine, and use that to connect with existing roadways.

Ultimately, though, the best long-term solutions to reduce the through traffic congestion in Baton Rouge would be to develop more direct interstate alternatives to I-10....completing I-49 South between Lafayette and New Orleans, and developing a freeway within the US 165/US 425 corridor from I-10 near Lake Charles to Pine Bluff via Alexandria and Monroe, would do a lot to reduce the traffic load that I-10 carries.

Locally, I'd say that an greatly expanded bus service along with improvements in traffic control and some widening of surface streets would probably be the better solution there, too.

I'd rather do that than take the risk of investing $4 billion on a loop with this much controversy.


Anthony Kennerson
Opelousas