[BR Today]

Aldermen received petitions with 180 signatures opposing the Baton Rouge Loop Monday night.
A petition with 70 signatures came from Corbin area residents and the other petition, with 110 signatures, came from Madison Oaks, Staffordshire, Carol Drive and Corbin Estates.
Some of the approximately 70 people at Town Hall expressed opposition to a proposed Loop corridor through eastern Walker. Others said the entire Loop premise is flawed.
Aldermen passed a resolution directed at Loop engineers saying that the proposed toll road is not wanted inside the town limits.
Mayors of Port Vincent and French Settlement issued similar statements and have already secured assurances that the Loop will not infringe on their borders.
Mayor Travis Clark said he and a small Walker delegation will meet with Loop planners to explain the advantages of putting the new road through a less populated area east of Walker.
The delegation will give Loop engineers "the opportunity to correct their errors," Clark said.
"I feel they will listen to us," said engineer Jerry Klier, a Madison Oaks resident who worked for Baton Rouge city government 28 years as a civil engineer.
People at Monday's board of aldermen meeting said maps used by Loop engineers do not show all the homes in eastern Walker that would be impacted by a corridor crossing U.S. 190 at La. 449.
North Corbin resident Steve Stafford said he intended to organize a large community meeting at which people can present their views to Loop engineers.
Another speaker Monday night, Lynn Dugas, said Parish President Mike Grimmer's office told her that as few as 20 residents could arrange a special meeting with Loop officials.
Stafford said Grimmer had personally responded to his concerns, and had forwarded them to the chief ABMB Loop engineer.
Stafford said that Grimmer told him Loop corridors were not yet set in stone.
Clark also said "nothing has been defined."
Grimmer was criticized for his role in the Loop. Parish presidents from East Baton Rouge and surrounding parishes sit on an executive board overseeing Loop progress.
Stafford said he was concerned about larger issues than getting Walker out of the Loop, and doubted that the Loop is the best way to address traffic problems.
"There are so many reasons to oppose this," Stafford said. "I think this is about economic development, not traffic."
The toll road has been proposed to attract private money for traffic relief, but if studies do not conclude that the Loop would carry enough traffic to justify the estimated $4 billion price tag, then it will not be built, Loop planners have said.
Many speakers Monday night said the proposed toll road should cross U.S. 190 east of Walker, in the Satsuma area, but Stafford said the Loop should not be forced on anyone.
"If we say go to the east, we are pushing it on our neighbors," Stafford said.
"I'd rather sit in traffic than see any of my neighbors lose their homes," a resident of The Lakes at Fenwood said.
Stafford said it would be unfair to "put it on a smaller group without the power to fight this."
Gail Falks, who lives in the South Satsuma Road area agreed with Stafford that pushing the Loop on others would not be fair.
"I keep hearing to move it east," Falks said. "We don't want it."
Ruby Hargrave, who lives in the Joe May Road area, agreed.
"Please include those of us not in the city limits," in your official protest, she said.
The resolution passed unanimously Monday only objected to a Loop segment within Walker's municipal limits.
Stafford struck a responsive chord with many in the audience when he said that existing routes could be expanded to handle the worst traffic problems.
Irwin Steudlein, who moved to Walker from Chalmette after Hurricane Katrina, said he doubted that the Loop would help Livingston Parish residents who commute to Baton Rouge.
Diesel trucks can't afford a toll road, and the Loop will not help local residents get to Essen Lane, LSU and other daily destinations in the city, Steudlein said.
Madison Oaks resident Ronald Gedye said that "the interior of the city is not served well by the Loop."
"I semi-disagree that the Loop isn't needed," Alderman Rick Ramsey said, referring to the stop and go morning traffic heading into Baton Rouge. "I'll sponsor the resolution, but I favor the Loop, when we get it out to the east and north."
Ramsey said Loop planners had avoided heavily residential areas elsewhere, and Walker should be off limits for the same reason.
South Fork resident Rachel McDaniel said the uncertainty over Loop right-of-way acquisition has depressed real estate sales.
Joe Durnin said he had questions about what "fair market value" meant in terms of developed and undeveloped land.
McDaniel echoed others when she said that inadequacies in existing infrastructure needed to be addressed before alternatives are built.
"Fix what we have and then move forward," McDaniel said.
A Briar Oak Drive resident said that when she moved to the Walker area three years ago, she was fully aware of the traffic problems. She said she moved here to escape conditions in Baton Rouge and wanted to preserve the Livingston Parish quality of life.
She agreed with other speakers who said the Loop would not help most Livingston Parish residents who commute to the city.
Most speakers Monday night also said they were disappointed in the two public meetings at North Park, where updated Loop corridor maps have been displayed. Residents said they did not feel that their input had registered with planners at the North Park meetings.

Source: Livingston Parish News