I-10 closure in Baton Rouge

[mcdonaat]

So, the dreaded event has finally happened... I-10 between the 10/12 split and Siegen has been shut down for the day, and it seems like the city has officially crapped itself. All of the four-lane routes are gridlocked, and Airline is reported to have backups to Prairieville. The idea is that an upgraded alternative route is needed, most likely along the Airline corridor or to the south of Baton Rouge.

To give anyone who has been through Baton Rouge an idea of how bad the traffic was, I went down River Road as a bypass, but Bubank Drive was at a complete stop from Siegen Lane to Nicholson. Highland Road was a parking lot, as was Perkins and Acadian Thruway. I'm sure this incident will make the DOTD rethink the priority of at least an upgraded Nicholson Drive, and even an extended Burbank from Geismar to Baton Rouge.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

DOTD can only work with what is given to them. And between the Republicans in the state house and the neighboring parishes wanting nothing to do with E/WBR, unless they can make out like bandits, nothing will happen.
If the last 4 hurricane evacuations of New Orleans (Ivan, Katrina, Rita, Gustav) have done nothing for BR traffic, then some truck blowing up on I-10 will change nothing either.

[mcdonaat]

The "loop" can be built inside of EBR and WBR. We don't have to talk about a 100% loop, just a southern alternative that can both bolster economic progress and act as a reliever route on I-10.

The true moral of this story is that Baton Rouge's surface streets are terrible. Every single city-owned street meets another at a stop light or a stop sign. The Central Thruway is the only actual city/parish-owned freeway, and the city could use a few upgrades to certain crossings. I would support a 10-cent per gallon tax raise because I probably wasted $5 of fuel sitting in traffic.

[allniter89]

So, the dreaded event has finally happened... I-10 between the 10/12 split and Siegen has been shut down for the day, and it seems like the city has officially crapped itself. All of the four-lane routes are gridlocked, and Airline is reported to have backups to Prairieville. The idea is that an upgraded alternative route is needed, most likely along the Airline corridor or to the south of Baton Rouge.

To give anyone who has been through Baton Rouge an idea of how bad the traffic was, I went down River Road as a bypass, but Bubank Drive was at a complete stop from Siegen Lane to Nicholson. Highland Road was a parking lot, as was Perkins and Acadian Thruway. I'm sure this incident will make the DOTD rethink the priority of at least an upgraded Nicholson Drive, and even an extended Burbank from Geismar to Baton Rouge.

Why would they do this on a weekday?

[mstgator]

So, the dreaded event has finally happened... I-10 between the 10/12 split and Siegen has been shut down for the day, and it seems like the city has officially crapped itself. All of the four-lane routes are gridlocked, and Airline is reported to have backups to Prairieville. The idea is that an upgraded alternative route is needed, most likely along the Airline corridor or to the south of Baton Rouge.

To give anyone who has been through Baton Rouge an idea of how bad the traffic was, I went down River Road as a bypass, but Bubank Drive was at a complete stop from Siegen Lane to Nicholson. Highland Road was a parking lot, as was Perkins and Acadian Thruway. I'm sure this incident will make the DOTD rethink the priority of at least an upgraded Nicholson Drive, and even an extended Burbank from Geismar to Baton Rouge.

Why would they do this on a weekday?

I'm guessing the drivers involved didn't bother to schedule their wreck accordingly.

http://theadvocate.com/home/3698836-77/major-crash-involving-18-wheelers-propane

[mcdonaat]

So, the dreaded event has finally happened... I-10 between the 10/12 split and Siegen has been shut down for the day, and it seems like the city has officially crapped itself. All of the four-lane routes are gridlocked, and Airline is reported to have backups to Prairieville. The idea is that an upgraded alternative route is needed, most likely along the Airline corridor or to the south of Baton Rouge.

To give anyone who has been through Baton Rouge an idea of how bad the traffic was, I went down River Road as a bypass, but Bubank Drive was at a complete stop from Siegen Lane to Nicholson. Highland Road was a parking lot, as was Perkins and Acadian Thruway. I'm sure this incident will make the DOTD rethink the priority of at least an upgraded Nicholson Drive, and even an extended Burbank from Geismar to Baton Rouge.

Why would they do this on a weekday?

I'm guessing the drivers involved didn't bother to schedule their wreck accordingly.

http://theadvocate.com/home/3698836-77/major-crash-involving-18-wheelers-propane

That's my fault, didn't say that it was a wreck. I do like the picture of I-10 completely vacant.

[Sanctimoniously]

I do like the picture of I-10 completely vacant.

Quick, someone top this!

[pctech]

This incident will reignite the what to do about "the traffic mess in Baton Rouge" debate, but don't expect much to happen. Any of the "fixes" even on a small scale will cost $$$. The financing is not likely to appear.
Mark

[agentsteel53]

Quick, someone top this!

the image file name confirms it: "dinner at carmageddon".  I thought I recognized the 405!

anyone care to replicate that feat with an active highway?  I know of some arterials in Detroit that may be amenable, but not any freeways.

[Urban Prairie Schooner]

The "loop" can be built inside of EBR and WBR. We don't have to talk about a 100% loop, just a southern alternative that can both bolster economic progress and act as a reliever route on I-10.

The true moral of this story is that Baton Rouge's surface streets are terrible. Every single city-owned street meets another at a stop light or a stop sign. The Central Thruway is the only actual city/parish-owned freeway, and the city could use a few upgrades to certain crossings. I would support a 10-cent per gallon tax raise because I probably wasted $5 of fuel sitting in traffic.

To think about it, the situation made me realize that the issue is not so much that BR needs a bypass, but that the region needs greater connectivity between the core and periphery. A bypass would have helped in diverting through traffic (and is still needed in some form), but would have been useless for inter-parish commuters who were inconvenienced in a major way. There are only three surface connections between EBR/Ascension (four if you count LA 30/Nicholson Drive), three connections between EBR/Livingston, and two connections between EBR/WBR. Traffic is forced onto too few options and when one of them is removed, the already overburdened connections become all out useless. And it doesn't help that the EBR arterial system is inadequate for the traffic demands.

Also, while Central Thruway may not have any intersecting driveways (yet) making it a sort of expressway, it is definitely not freeway - there are grade intersections at Florida Blvd, S. Choctaw Dr, Hamilton St, Frenchtown Rd, Greenwell Springs Rd, and Sullivan Rd.

[cpzilliacus]

To think about it, the situation made me realize that the issue is not so much that BR needs a bypass, but that the region needs greater connectivity between the core and periphery. A bypass would have helped in diverting through traffic (and is still needed in some form), but would have been useless for inter-parish commuters who were inconvenienced in a major way.

I am speaking from a long way from Baton Rouge, and I have never set foot near there.

But speaking in generalities:

• Environmental and Smart Growth groups reflexively oppose highway bypass projects of all sorts (and I don't know how influential those are in Baton Rouge);
• It seems to me that the need is for highway network redundancy;
• In some cases, that network redundancy does not need to be a freeway-class road, but that may be the case here.

[mcdonaat]

I think the Central Thruway can be solved in the same way Burbank exists... Create a green belt around the highway. There are tons of pieces of Burbank that have parks or green area around them, and Burbank was one of the less congested highways. A full on expressway could help, but just upgrading Nicholson to four lanes and even giving the thru routes a longer green cycle could have helped big time.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

To think about it, the situation made me realize that the issue is not so much that BR needs a bypass, but that the region needs greater connectivity between the core and periphery. A bypass would have helped in diverting through traffic (and is still needed in some form), but would have been useless for inter-parish commuters who were inconvenienced in a major way.

I am speaking from a long way from Baton Rouge, and I have never set foot near there.

But speaking in generalities:

• Environmental and Smart Growth groups reflexively oppose highway bypass projects of all sorts (and I don't know how influential those are in Baton Rouge);

Wrong boogiemen. The twin terrors in preventing Baton Rouge highway development are White suburban NIMBYs who are willing to sacrifice they own good, just so they can keep the black, democratic, underclass, inside Baton Rouge. And politically active black business class that refuses to kowtow to white suburbanites who the blacks see as, at best, uncarring, at worst, wanting to return to the Jim Crow era.

The Smart Growthers haven't gotten beyond the LSU campus and DT Baton Rouge.
The environmentialist focus on the refineries, drilling wells out in the gulf, and the disapearing coastline. Highways are the least of their worries.[/list]

[pctech]

There's also the "tea party"  mentality here as well. All taxes are bad no matter what they fund.

Mark

[cpzilliacus]

Wrong boogiemen. The twin terrors in preventing Baton Rouge highway development are White suburban NIMBYs who are willing to sacrifice they own good, just so they can keep the black, democratic, underclass, inside Baton Rouge. And politically active black business class that refuses to kowtow to white suburbanites who the blacks see as, at best, uncarring, at worst, wanting to return to the Jim Crow era.

There's some of that in my part of the world as well - the decidedly white and upper-class Piedmont Environmental Council of Virginia (PEC) and its front group carries on against new highways and new "sprawl" development near their mansions and estates and horsefarms in the Virginia Piedmont counties west of Washington, D.C., and supports anti-highway activities in a much larger swath of Virginia and into Maryland and D.C.  The front group being more-active in D.C. and its close-in suburbs, with the idea of encouraging population growth and development away from the PEC's big-money donors.

The Smart Growthers haven't gotten beyond the LSU campus and DT Baton Rouge.

That makes intuitive sense.

The environmentialist focus on the refineries, drilling wells out in the gulf, and the disapearing coastline. Highways are the least of their worries.

Though has anyone explained what the consequences of shutting the above down might be?

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

The environmentialist focus on the refineries, drilling wells out in the gulf, and the disapearing coastline. Highways are the least of their worries.

Though has anyone explained what the consequences of shutting the above down might be?

Yes. New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette get washed out to sea the next time a hurricane comes their way.

[mcdonaat]

Here's my idea that never actually got implemented... Post digital signs that will direct traffic on I-10 between NO and Lafayette to US 90 if an accident occurs.

[ShawnP]

This is actually not bad for a lot of Cajuns. Less speed equals less chance to spill their adult beverages while driving.

[cpzilliacus]

This is actually not bad for a lot of Cajuns. Less speed equals less chance to spill their adult beverages while driving.

No "open container" laws there?  Or are they unenforced?

[mcdonaat]

This is actually not bad for a lot of Cajuns. Less speed equals less chance to spill their adult beverages while driving.

No "open container" laws there?  Or are they unenforced?

We have open container laws, strictly enforced, but we also have drive thru daiquiri places. The nicer ones are enclosed drive thrus with colorful lights.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Here's my idea that never actually got implemented... Post digital signs that will direct traffic on I-10 between NO and Lafayette to US 90 if an accident occurs.

Great idea if you were heading to Allendale, New Roads, Plaquemine or Zachary. 

[Alps]

the image file name confirms it: "dinner at carmageddon".  I thought I recognized the 405!

anyone care to replicate that feat with an active highway?  I know of some arterials in Detroit that may be amenable, but not any freeways.

Akron's Innerbelt.