Mayor-President Kip Holden and three neighboring parish presidents are slated to travel to Texas this week to get a firsthand look at how tolls and public-private partnerships can help to build the proposed $4-billion Baton Rouge Loop.
The group plans to meet with state transportation officials and representatives from two Texas toll authorities to discuss their experiences in constructing limited-access turnpike and loop projects in Austin and Dallas. They also plan to discuss possible strategies for the 90-to-100-mile loop that would circle the greater Baton Rouge area through five parishes.
“We’ll learn the procedures that they went through in order to build a loop, and the procedures that they went through in terms of financing the loop, and they will tell us the problems that they incurred that we should avoid,” said Walter Monsour, chief administrative officer for Holden.
The loop, which is expected to take 8-10 years to complete, is intended to ease traffic congestion on Interstate 10 and Interstate 12 through Louisiana’s capital city.
The group plans to gather in Dallas on Thursday and meet with officials who built and operate the 32-mile Dallas North Tollway, the 30-mile President George Bush Turnpike, the Addison Airport Toll Tunnel, and the 7,425-foot-long Mountain Creek Lake Bridge.
During their visit to the North Texas Tollway Authority, the parish presidents who compose the Baton Rouge Loop Executive Committee will also get information about ongoing projects, and will tour a toll plaza to see some of the latest electronic toll-collection technology.
On Friday, the group plans to visit Austin and meet with officials from the Texas Department of Transportation and representatives from the five-year-old Central Texas Mobility Authority, which has several toll-road projects under construction.
Monsour said all elected and appointed officials will be expected to pay their expenses for the trip.
Besides Holden and Monsour, others scheduled to go on the trip include Livingston Parish President Mike Grimmer, Ascension Parish President Tommy Martinez and West Baton Rouge Parish President Riley “Pee Wee” Berthelot.
A public hearing for Iberville Parish residents on the latest proposed loop routes is scheduled today from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Plaquemine Civic Center, 24700 J. Gerald Beret Blvd. It is the last of five public hearings open to anyone, Rannah Gray, coordinator of the hearings for the Loop Executive Committee, has said.
Source: The Advocate
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