Louisiana

[cjk374]

I drove through Baton Rouge last night and discovered I owe a friend an apology...

My friend was telling me about how she hated driving/riding over the Huey P. Long bridge in Baton Rouge.  I kept asking her if she meant New Orleans.  She insisted she meant BR.  She even described it as a RR bridge with a road attached to it.  I just didn't believe her, until last night.

I decided to drive US 190 through BR instead of I-10 (refer to my previous posts above as to why I chose US 190).  It was a nice ride, and I'll probably do it again.  Just before the US 61 JCT,  was the enormous (now faded) orange KCS RR bridge that I had completely forgotten about.  At the foot of the bridge was a sign that read...HUEY P. LONG BRIDGE!!   

Has anyone else forgotten about/confused this bridge with the other Huey P. Long bridge? 

[Anthony_JK]

I drove through Baton Rouge last night and discovered I owe a friend an apology...

My friend was telling me about how she hated driving/riding over the Huey P. Long bridge in Baton Rouge.  I kept asking her if she meant New Orleans.  She insisted she meant BR.  She even described it as a RR bridge with a road attached to it.  I just didn't believe her, until last night.

I decided to drive US 190 through BR instead of I-10 (refer to my previous posts above as to why I chose US 190).  It was a nice ride, and I'll probably do it again.  Just before the US 61 JCT,  was the enormous (now faded) orange KCS RR bridge that I had completely forgotten about.  At the foot of the bridge was a sign that read...HUEY P. LONG BRIDGE!!   

Has anyone else forgotten about/confused this bridge with the other Huey P. Long bridge? 

Interesting, because very few folk in BR actually refer to that bridge as the "Huey P. Long" bridge....that title is reserved for the NOLA bridge.

Most folk then as now still refer it as the "US 190" or "Old Mississippi River Bridge". Though, considering that Huey Long got a lot of bridges built in his time, I guess that he had a lot of them named for him or his progeny).


Anthony

[UptownRoadGeek]

The Huey in BR is the original Huey. I don't know what people there call it, but here if it was mentioned I always heard people say "the other Huey P bridge".

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Going off of John Week's website (http://www.johnweeks.com/river_mississippi/river_mississippi_24.html)
The NOLA Huey Long Bridge was finished in 1935, while the BR Huey Long Bridge was finished in 1940.

[UptownRoadGeek]

Going off of John Week's website (http://www.johnweeks.com/river_mississippi/river_mississippi_24.html)
The NOLA Huey Long Bridge was finished in 1935, while the BR Huey Long Bridge was finished in 1940.

Sounds like I have my dates mixed up
One was started in 1933 and the other 1936, for some reason I thought that the BR bridge was first.

[brownpelican]

I was fortunate. I only recall being stuck on the I-10 Mississippi bridge a couple of times in the 5 years I was in Baton Rouge.
But I generally didn't go near I-10 during rush hour, home LSU football games, or hurricane evacuations.

Add to that the Thanksgiving holidays.

In regards to B.R.'s Huey Long Bridge, it's not as bad as New Orleans' because it doesn't have that curve that's prominent on the westbank portion of the New Orleans bridge.

[brownpelican]

The faster they can get I-10/12 finished the better!   

What do those ramp meters do?    I can't imagine anybody obeying the 1-per-green stipulation the overhead signs requires.

They obey the lights. Some ramps (like at Denham Springs) have two or more lanes that merge into one. The lights rotate among the lanes. Yet it's still hell merging at Denham Springs westbound.

[UptownRoadGeek]

US 90 @ LA 85

[Anthony_JK]

Nice.  After that interchange is completed, only LA 318 near Four Corners and LA 182 near Calumet are the last at-grade intersections that have to be upgraded to interchanges, and the frontage road work between Darnell Road and LA 85, and LA 675 and LA 88 need to be completed, for US 90 to become a full freeway between LA 88 and Wax Lake.

Speaking of the latter...a major roadblock -- literally speaking -- is now being removed to frontage road work along US 90 in Iberia Parish...in the form of a large Live Oak tree that is being moved. In its entireity.

Costly for state to relocate 150-year-old Iberia oak (Lafayette Daily Advertiser)

Some commentors have raised sand about the $300K cost of moving the tree rather than just cutting it down...but personally, considering the alternatives of destroying a landmark or having to shift the mainline alignment to save it, this is more than worth it.


Anthony

[Anthony_JK]

[...].

I decided to drive US 190 through BR instead of I-10 (refer to my previous posts above as to why I chose US 190).  It was a nice ride, and I'll probably do it again.  Just before the US 61 JCT,  was the enormous (now faded) orange KCS RR bridge that I had completely forgotten about.  At the foot of the bridge was a sign that read...HUEY P. LONG BRIDGE!!   

To be accurate, though...that RR overpass belongs to Canadian National (CN), formerly Illinois Central, not KCS. The KCS crossing of US 190 is a couple of hundred feet further east....and at-grade.


Anthony

[NE2]

Actually it wouldn't surprise me if the rail part of that Huey P. Long Bridge belongs to the same agency as the road part (LADOTD?). KCS uses it as part of their main line to New Orleans, and UP has trackage rights on KCS there, but IC appears to stay on the east side of the river, crossing US 190 on a short bridge that the east rail approach to the Huey P. Long passes over.

[Anthony_JK]

Te clarify...I was talking about (and assuming the OP was talking about) the RR bridge that overpasses US 190 just past where the Old Mississippi River Bridge ends, not the rail bridge that crosses the river along with the roadway itself. That particular rail IS a KCS/Louisiana & Arkansas property, though Union Pacific also uses it as a spur access for their Addils-Livonia-Plaquemine substations.


Anthony

[NE2]

The IC bridge over US 190 isn't orange, is it?

[cjk374]

^^^Not that 1....BR's Huey P. Long bridge.  As you come into BR from the west on US 190, the LARGE RR bridge appears on your left and the RR and highway begin to "merge" as both cross the MS River.  This RR bridge was orange when I was younger.  I believe 1991 was the last time I had seen the bridge before my trip I talked about last month.  I remember seeing the other RR bridge that crossed over US 190 on the east side of the river, and I wondered whose it was.  I appreciate that good info AnthonyJK and NE2. 

[NE2]

Yes, the long orange bridge that crosses the river between the two directions of US 190 is primarily used by KCS. The short one perpendicular to it on the east side is IC.

[brownpelican]

From reading a press release about how Baton Rouge and New Orleans' ranks dropped in a traffic survey, I found that several projects were going to be underway starting later this year into next year:

http://www.dotd.la.gov/pressreleases/release.aspx?key=1631

* Extension of Hooper Road (La. 408) from Greenwell Springs Road (La. 37) in East Baton Rouge Parish to La. 16 in Livingston Parish above Denham Springs...feasibility study underway and should be complete by this summer.

* Widening of I-10 from Clearview to Veterans from three to five lanes each way and a sound wall. To be let next month, costing $50-$70 million.

* Extension of 4th Street in Gretna from La. 18 to Burmaster St. (La. 466). To be let in fiscal year 2012-13 costing at least $10 million. Extension is for truck traffic.

* Peters Road on and off ramps and completion of MacArthur Drive interchange on the Westbank Expressway. Costing $20-$30 million, it's tentatively scheduled to be let next month.

* Improvements to Gen. De Gaulle Drive (La. 428).  Turn lanes will be added, an extra lane eastbound will be built and the lights from Holiday Drive to Mardi Gras Drive will be replaced. Will be let next month costing at least $2.5 million.

[UptownRoadGeek]

I'm looking forward to the Clearview to Vets expansion. At one time they were thinking of adding a flyover from westbound to vets. I wonder what happened with that. Whatever they decide to do, I hope that they can pull it off in a timely manner.

The Manhattan interchange reconfiguration/Peters Road/MacAuthor Blvd project is badly needed and I'm looking forward to watching them pull this off.

The 4th street extension would be convienent during peak traffic.

I recently drove along the Harvey Blvd extension into Plaquemines Parish to Engineers Rd and must say that it is nice. Now they just need to widen it from Wall to Manhattan.

[brownpelican]

Google Earth has updated its imagery of the Baton Rouge area....you can now see the I-10/12 construction. Even neater, you can go back in time to 1989...I believe that was a year after I-12 from O'Neal Lane to Airline was widened. Baton Rouge was a different place then.

[lamsalfl]

see my thead about six-laning LA interstates:  https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=4308.0 

Based on my observations, just about all of I-12 and I-10 east of BR is ripe for widening.  Funding is another story.

[golden eagle]

John James Audubon Bridge near completion:

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20110401/NEWS01/104010351/Opening-Miss-River-bridge-nears?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home

[brownpelican]

Baton Rouge Advocate link:
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/westside/Bridge-opening-not-set-work-near-end.html

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

When I lived in Baton Rouge, it felt like it would take forever for that bridge to be built. Now that the end is in site, it seems like constuction just started yesterday. 
And reading all the hater comments after the Advocate's article just makes me 

[brownpelican]

And reading all the hater comments after the Advocate's article just makes me  

Okay!!!

[brownpelican]

Clearview signage spotted on I-12 off ramps to La. 21 as well as on 21 itself. I also spotted it on some street signs along Mehle Avenue in Arabi (on the St. Bernard/Orleans parish line).

[brownpelican]

The Big Lift Part Three takes place this weekend, resulting in the total closure of the Huey Long Bridge.
http://www.wwltv.com/news/Huey-P-Long-Bridge-to-close-this-weekend-119418259.html