Consultants released the boundaries of the proposed Baton Rouge loop Thursday that resembles a doughnut, stretching as far south as the Sunshine Bridge in Ascension Parish and as far north as the Baker-Zachary area.
ABMB Engineer Mike Bruce said the doughnut hole — which is not under consideration for the loop — includes the heavily developed area in Baton Rouge and Denham Springs in Livingston Parish.
Bruce said setting the boundaries is the first step to determine the best route for the $4 billion loop, and includes 12 possible places to cross the Mississippi River that have tentative approval of the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Only two are under consideration for the northern leg of the loop: the existing U.S. 190 Mississippi River Bridge, and another location west of Baker. Four possible crossings are between the existing the Interstate 10 bridge south to Addis in West Baton Rouge Parish. Six potential bridge sites are between Plaquemine in Iberville Parish and the Sunshine Bridge or La. 70 bridge.
The eastern boundary extends three to four miles past Walker on I-10, while the westward boundary is five to six miles past La. 415 in West Baton Rouge Parish, Bruce said.
“This is a working map, and it may well change as we get additional input,” Bruce said.
The next step will be to develop all possible routes within those boundaries, then to determine the best one.
“We’re going to put them all on the table, and then figure out which ones are feasible,” Bruce told the committee of five Baton Rouge area parish presidents who are overseeing the loop project.
The resulting map of possible routes will likely resemble a bowl of spaghetti, Bruce said. Engineers will examine each route for constraints, such as wetlands and existing development, he said.
“You wouldn’t want to run the loop through Tiger Stadium, for obvious reasons,” Bruce said.
Because the proposed loop will be financed with tolls, it’s essential to choose routes and interchanges that will generate the most toll revenue and will offer the most relief from traffic congestion, Bruce said.
East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holden’s chief administrative officer, Walter Monsour, said he’s already receiving calls from people who want to know if their land is on a loop route.
“Our office just got a call from a landowners yesterday who said he had heard that his house is going to be right in the middle of the loop,” he said.
Monsour emphasized that a number of possible routes are going to be studied within the boundaries.
Plans call for a Web site to be established in the next few weeks so the public can keep up with developments in the loop planning process, he said. The project could be finished in eight to 10 years, Monsour said, if all goes according to plan.
Source:
The Advocate
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