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I-10 Calcasieu River Bridge Update: DEIS, Public Hearing, Preferred Alt Selected

Started by Anthony_JK, February 21, 2023, 07:44:32 PM

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Anthony_JK

I'm surprised that this may have slipped by, but....


A preferred alternative has been proposed for the proposed new bridge replacement for the I-10 Calcasieu River bridge in Lake Charles.


The Draft Environmental Impact Statement was released to the public in October of last year, and an official Public Hearing was held in December for the public to issue comments on the project.


The preferred alternative selected was Alternative 5G, which would replace the existing 4-lane span with a 6-lane pre-stressed concrete girder bridge with a lower but much less steep vertical profile (73 feet clearance over the navigational portion of the Calcasieu River, as opposed to the 135 foot clearance of the older bridge), an elevated interchange with Sampson Street (LA 378) in Westlake at the western approach allowing for full grade separation of Sampson St. over the Union Pacific/BNSF and Kansas City Southern railroad lines that serve the chemical plants, a continuous elevated 6-lane (3 lanes each direction + auxiliary lanes where necessary) viaduct from the east bridge approach to the Opelousas Street interchange; minor revisions to the US 90 western divergence west of Westlake to elevate I-10 over the eastbound approach from US 90/Sulphur, and continuous 2x3 segments between the I-210 termini.


The bridge section will be tolled, using transponders and pay-by-mail; locals will be charged no greater than $2.88 to use the bridge with purchase of a transponder (probably GeauxPASS).


More details are at the official website: http://www.i10lakecharles.com



Urban Prairie Schooner

Based on the proposed ramp layout, it looks like through traffic on US 90 EB will be directed to the US 171 interchange, then south to existing US 90 at Fruge Street, with WB the reverse of this. Either that or it will use Church/Belden Streets all the way to the Lakeshore Drive interchange...

sprjus4

^ Is the I-210 bridge portion going to be tolled as well? Because that will easily become a major shunpike route otherwise, especially for long haul traffic on I-10.

Additionally, will the toll be interoperable with the TxTag network, or E-ZPass? It would be foolish to implement a new toll on I-10 and not accept either one of those transponders, especially TxTag given it's directly to the west.

Anthony_JK

I-210 will remain free; I see no plans to toll that facility. Indeed, it will become essential anyway as a replacement detour while I-10 is upgraded and the new bridge built.

Louisiana has its own dedicated toll collection service, GeauxPass; I'm not sure whether or not it will also accept EZPass or TxTag or other services.

The actual toll that is scheduled to be charged for the bridge is actually not that bad, especially for locals. The maximum will be, I believe, $2.42 per mile by transponder. I'm sure there will be some shunpiking via I-210, but that was happening anyway due to the poor condition and age of the old bridge. A much improved and far less dangerous bridge should be enough to attract enough traffic to cover the costs.


Bolden Street, which served as a one-way eastbound access road for I-10, will be shifted southward slightly and replaced with direct ramps for the Enterprise Boulevard/Louisiana Avenue and Ryan Street/Lakeshore Drive interchanges, and Bolden connects directly with eastbound US 90 prior to its divergence from I-10. I'm assuming the slip ramp from mainline I-10 eastbound will be retained, since that will also be used to access Martin Luther King Drive (which carries US 171 north of US 90 and LA 14 south of that intersection. I believe the same will be done for Church Street for westbound from US 90 to Lakeshore/Ryan.

Chris

Isn't GeauxPass only used on the elevated section of LA 1? Which is a relatively minor road compared to I-10, especially to out of state drivers.

The Ghostbuster

Hopefully the new bridge will have full emergency shoulders on both sides. I hate Interstate bridges that lack shoulders, although I am aware that a lot of them do.

bwana39

Quote from: sprjus4 on February 21, 2023, 09:13:04 PM
^ Is the I-210 bridge portion going to be tolled as well? Because that will easily become a major shunpike route otherwise, especially for long haul traffic on I-10.

Additionally, will the toll be interoperable with the TxTag network, or E-ZPass? It would be foolish to implement a new toll on I-10 and not accept either one of those transponders, especially TxTag given it's directly to the west.

At this point, Louisiana apparently does not accept the Texas tags. They do have pay by mail.

Just for an FYI, The TXTag is the least used tag of the ones in Texas. They are all three 100% interoperable. 
The TollTag (NTTA) is the most used. It is the most user friendly of the three. You can get it regardless of where you live.
The Ez Tag (HCTRA) and the TxTag (TXDOT) seemingly have about the same number of subscribers.
EzTag would probably be significantly ahead of the TXTag but it has more non-toll fees and costs associated with it. TxTag has ongoing billing issues.
The media in Houston recommend the TollTag.

While The TxTag would seemingly be a state-wide construct, it is primarily aimed at the Austin area where it began.
Let's build what we need as economically as possible.

longhorn

Why the lower height? Will it cause problems in the future? Any word where the hotels on the north side of the freeway will relocate?

At least this allows the new bridge to be built while the old one is still in use.

J N Winkler

Quote from: The Ghostbuster on February 22, 2023, 01:33:24 PMHopefully the new bridge will have full emergency shoulders on both sides. I hate Interstate bridges that lack shoulders, although I am aware that a lot of them do.

Per the engineering documents (Appendix H of the DEIS), mainline I-10 not only will have 12 ft shoulders on both sides, but also a minimum median width (including shoulders) of 64 ft.  Maximum upgrade is to be 3%.  These are really sweet specs and represent an immense improvement over the current facility.

I am less happy about the tolling plan.  If it is implemented, this bridge will be the only part of I-10 that has a toll with no free alternative in the same corridor.  I can easily see out-of-town motorists taking an extra four minutes/3.2 miles on I-210 just to avoid bill-by-mail hassles.

GeauxPass would seem not to be compatible at the technical level with the tags used in the Kansas/Oklahoma/Texas interoperability area.  Those are SeGo, while GeauxPass is 6C (same as FasTrak).
"It is necessary to spend a hundred lire now to save a thousand lire later."--Piero Puricelli, explaining the need for a first-class road system to Benito Mussolini

Echostatic

GeauxPass is labeled as 6C/SeGo, segregated by serial number range. I'm not sure if that means they've phased out one or the other, or if they use both simultaneously for some reason, but their systems should at least be compatible to some extent with the other SeGo tech.
Travelled in part or in full.

sprjus4

Quote from: J N Winkler on February 22, 2023, 04:18:31 PM
I am less happy about the tolling plan.  If it is implemented, this bridge will be the only part of I-10 that has a toll with no free alternative in the same corridor.  I can easily see out-of-town motorists taking an extra four minutes/3.2 miles on I-210 just to avoid bill-by-mail hassles.
IIRC, doesn't signage actually encourage thru traffic to take I-210 as a "bypass"  already anyway? I've personally never taken I-210, I've always used I-10 straight through, but if the tolls on this end up being slightly pricy, I might opt for I-210 if traffic is light. The speed limit is 60 mph on both routes so there's no advantage taking one vs. the other.

As far as toll-by-plate, I agree... if they became interoperable with TxTag and the other transponders interoperable with that, plus the E-ZPass network, it would save significant problems, especially given I-10 is a cross-country corridor linking Texas, Florida, and the northeast via I-59 / I-75 / I-81 and I-65 / I-85.

Anthony_JK

Quote from: Chris on February 22, 2023, 04:31:22 AM
Isn't GeauxPass only used on the elevated section of LA 1? Which is a relatively minor road compared to I-10, especially to out of state drivers.

I'm assuming that LADOTD will expand GeauxPass to be used for future tolled projects. I can't see them outsourcing to other transponder services.



Anthony_JK

Quote from: longhorn on February 22, 2023, 03:09:16 PM
Why the lower height? Will it cause problems in the future? Any word where the hotels on the north side of the freeway will relocate?

At least this allows the new bridge to be built while the old one is still in use.

The lower vertical clearance allows for a much less steep gradient on the bridge, and is compatible with current navigation on the river. It will also allow for the full grade/rail separation for the Sampson Street interchange/overpass.



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