Residents of the Hoo Shoo Too Road area turned out in force Monday to oppose the possibility of the proposed Baton Rouge Loop coming through their southeast Baton Rouge neighborhood.
“We’re environmentalists. That’s why we live out there,” Michael Thibodeaux said.
Thibodeaux said the Hoo Shoo Too Road area is a haven for wildlife as well as an area of historical significance, with a cemetery that dates to the 1700s, another cemetery that dates to the 1800s and plantation homes.
Another Hoo Shoo Too resident, Bart East, said the area is one of the last parts of East Baton Rouge Parish to be developed. East said he fears that if a loop is built in that area, it will encourage development and ruin the rural atmosphere.
“The outside loop makes a lot more sense to me,” East said, referring to the proposed southernmost route that would cross the Mississippi River near Donaldsonville.
Joining the consultants and city-parish workers on hand to take public input about the loop Monday was Mayor-President Kip Holden, who said he doesn’t believe Hoo Shoo Too Road is going to be disturbed by the loop.
“The only thing that I can tell the naysayers is not to be too negative about a plan that still isn’t developed,” Holden said.
The mayor said the purpose of the four public hearings being held this week is to let residents state their concerns, so the engineers designing the loop can take them into consideration.
“This is democracy in action. People care enough that they want to come out and voice their opinions,” Holden said of Monday’s meeting, which lasted a little more than three hours.
Mike Bruce of ABMB Engineers, one of the consultants hired to devise a loop implementation plan, said the loop will be funded by tolls, so it has to be in an area where it will attract plenty of traffic.
“The next step, after taking input from all these people, is to make traffic projections to see which corridors are feasible. If a route can’t be supported by tolls, it will drop out,” Bruce said.
Holden’s top administrator said the proposed southernmost boundary of the loop — which crosses the Mississippi River at the Sunshine Bridge — isn’t a realistic option.
“The outer boundary at 120 miles is not feasible. It’s not going to generate tolls or relieve traffic,” Chief Administrative Officer Walter Monsour said.
Monsour said the loop architects are required by the federal government to exhaust every alternative, including those that don’t appear plausible.
Tonight, the loop hearing will shift to Livingston Parish, where residents can sound off about possible loop routes at North Park Recreation Center, 30372 Eden Church Road in Denham Springs, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
On Wednesday, a public hearing will be held for West Baton Rouge and Iberville residents at the Addis Community Center, 7828 La. 1 South from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
A final public hearing, for Ascension Parish residents, will be held from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Gonzales Civic Center, at 219 S. Irma Blvd.
Bruce said the loop project is expected to cost from $3 billion to $4 billion, and will take about 10 years to build.
Source: The Advocate,
SCOTT DYER
