Originally Posted by Scotty

I feel part of the problem is the lack of utilizing the surface streets. Had these streets been maintained and/or expanded over the years, people would've utilized them more, thereby reducing the traffic on the interstate. Also, it wouldn't cost so much to expand later on becuase you'd have something to work with. Improving the surface streets, and as Jeremiah stated, three lane the interstate to Livingston are starters.

That's a very good point, Scotty. It appears that most of the east/west surface streets are just about up to par. Old Hammond Hwy is a great alternate route to the downtown area. There are only a couple miles left of that hwy that aren't 4 laned. I would like to see Florida Blvd upgraded (somehow) to better manage the traffic that passes down this hwy. I think a couple of overpasses on Florida would be a good addition. You could put the 'exits' a few blocks before the intersection and have traffic exit to the existing service road to navigate to Sherwood Forest. Larger cities like Houston and Dallas utilize their service roads much better than we do. An overpass combined with closing most of the smaller intersections on Florida would cut travel time in half from Denham Springs to downtown Baton Rouge. Instead of these small intersections with traffic lights, make them short 'entrance' ramps east and west. Like I said before, the service roads are already there. For traffic wanting to turn left, they would have to enter going the opposite direction and utilize U turns to get going in the right direction. Simple things like this would improve the flow on Florida Blvd and make it more enticing to local interstate travellers, which should reduce the load on the interstate.