The future Central Thruway won’t be completed for 2&permil years, but Mayor Pro Tem Joe Greco is already pushing to name it after his late wife.
Greco wants to name the planned 3.1-mile expressway the “Joan R. Greco Thruway” after his wife who died of ovarian cancer last year.

“I could have tried to name it after myself, but instead I am trying to name it after my wife as a memorial — she was the love of my life,” Greco said.
Assistant Parish Attorney Mary Roper said that while there is a state law that prohibits naming bridges and buildings after people who are still alive, it doesn’t apply to roads.

“So the council could name the thruway after him (Greco),” Roper said.
Greco said he considers himself to be the father of the Central Thruway because he’s been pushing it for about 20 years.
“But my wife, Joan, was the woman behind it,” Greco said.
The most expensive city-parish road project in the history of East Baton Rouge, the Central Thruway is expected to cost $60 million, with the bridges over the Comite River and Beaver Bayou accounting for more than a third of the total cost.

When completed in late 2010 or early 2011, the four-lane, limited access expressway from Sullivan Road to Florida Boulevard figures to become a main entrance into the newly created city of Central.
Asked why he was trying to name the Central Thruway at this point, Greco said: “I’ve got to strike while the iron’s hot.”

Greco is term-limited and can’t seek another term. Greco said if he waits until 2011, he may not know hardly anyone on the Metro Council.
Even though the road will be mostly in the city of Central, the Metro Council is totally responsible for naming it, Greco said.

“This is really the Metro Council’s call. The city of Central really doesn’t have anything to do with it,” Greco said.
Greco said the thruway will be especially important during heavy rains, when Greenwell Springs Road floods and forces Central residents to drive some 25 miles out of their way to get to Baton Rouge.

The proposal goes before the Metro Council Finance and Executive Committee on at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 7, and before the full council at 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 14.

Both meetings will be held in the council chambers on the third floor of the Governmental Building at 222 St. Louis St.

Source: The Advocate