News:

The AARoads Wiki is live! Come check it out!

Main Menu

Louisiana

Started by Alex, January 20, 2009, 12:43:48 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Anthony_JK

GeauxPass for the LA 1 Toll Road?? Sounds like a trend to me.

I'm sure that it will be used as well for the Baton Rouge Loop, the Lafayette Metro (e)Xpressway toll loop (though they'll probably propose a "CajunPass" for that particular road), and perhaps even some sections (if not all) of I-49 South if tolls ever come to that proposed highway.


Anthony


UptownRoadGeek

GeauxPasses will be available at the CCC office, so maybe they'll change the TollTag to GeauxPass as well.

Alex

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/new_grand_isle_toll_bridge_doe.html


New Grand Isle toll bridge does not accept cash
by Paul Rioux, The Times-Picayune
Friday July 03, 2009, 8:12 PM

http://blog.nola.com/news_impact/2009/07/large_04toll.JPG

SUSAN POAG/THE TIMES-PICAYUNEA sign on the entrance to the Louisiana Highway 1 alerts drivers about delinquent tolls on the new Leeville Bridge which opens Tuesday, July7, 2009. Enthusiasm in Grand Isle for the bridge's long-awaited opening is tempered by concerns that the electronic toll system could be a turn off to tourists. The $166 million bridge will not have a toll booth for motorist to pay with cash. Instead, bridge users must set up a toll-tag accound or get a one-time pass at one of five kiosks along LA Hwy. 1.

Enthusiasm in Grand Isle for next week's long-awaited opening of the new Leeville Bridge on Louisiana 1 is tempered by concerns that the electronic toll system could turn off tourists.

The $166 million bridge will not have a tollbooth where motorists will pay cash. Instead, bridge users must set up a toll-tag account or get a one-time pass at one of five kiosks along the highway.

Unlike the Crescent City Connection and the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, the Leeville Bridge will use "open-road tolling" that does not require motorists to slow down or stop as they pass through tollbooths, enhancing safety and efficiency, said Mark Lambert, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation and Development.

Grand Isle and Jefferson Parish officials said the lack of a cash option will likely confuse motorists who seldom use the bridge, especially tourists who are critical to the barrier island's economy.

"If I take a six-hour drive to go fishing in Grand Isle and get a nice letter two weeks later with a hefty fine saying I failed to pay a toll on a bridge with no tollbooth, it's going to cause some confusion and anger, " Parish Councilman Chris Roberts told state transportation officials at a recent council meeting.

"I hope you guys are ready to handle the backlash that comes with that, " he said.

The state highway department has held eight public-awareness meetings across the state and posted more than 20 permanent signs along Louisiana 1 to alert motorists about the automated toll system, Lambert said.

"We don't want to collect fines; we want to collect tolls, " he said.

But he acknowledged some confusion is inevitable, prompting the transportation department to give motorists a 48-hour grace period after using the bridge to pay tolls. After that, violators will be mailed a $25 fine that, if unpaid, will increase each month to a maximum of $65, Lambert said.

Tolls kick in July 27

Set to open Tuesday, the fixed-span toll bridge over Bayou Lafourche replaces a rickety drawbridge that often breaks down, causing traffic jams on the lone highway to Grand Isle and Port Fourchon, a busy hub for offshore oil and gas production.

Lambert said transportation officials don't plan to begin collecting tolls until July 27, after the Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo fishing tournament.

"This gives us a chance to work out any kinks, " he said. "The last thing we want to do is create any more confusion with potentially tens of thousands of people flooding the island during the rodeo."

Lambert said tolls will be collected only from southbound vehicles at the following rates:

-- 50 cents for residents who live below the bridge.

-- $1.50 for commuters who use the bridge at least 20 times in 60 days.

-- $2.50 for motorcycles and two-axle, four-tire vehicles.

-- $10 for 18-wheelers and other five-axle trucks.

-- $12 for six-axle trucks.

Regular bridge users can set up GeauxPass toll-tag accounts at a customer service center in Golden Meadow, about 10 miles north of Leeville. Others can pay for one-time passes at kiosks at the service center and four businesses along the highway.

Motorists who cross the bridge without paying will have 48 hours to call customer service at 1.866.662.8987 or stop by a kiosk to pay the toll and avoid a fine, Lambert said.

Other tags can be used

He said Crescent City Connection toll tags will work on the new Leeville Bridge.

Motorists with toll tags for the Causeway will need to open a separate account to pay tolls on the Leeville Bridge, but they won't have to buy a new tag. The tags cost $12.50 for a nonremovable sticker and $32 for a removable plastic case.

The Leeville Bridge is the first phase of a three-part project to elevate 19 miles of flood-prone Louisiana 1 between Golden Meadow and Port Fourchon, which serves 90 percent of the deepwater rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Jefferson Parish Council passed a resolution in May calling the toll-collection system a "logistical nightmare." The resolution urged the transportation department to allow motorists to pay tolls in cash at the bridge.

Transportation officials said cash payments will be accepted at the kiosk at the Golden Meadow service center at 1821 S. Alex Plaisance Blvd., but all other kiosks will require a credit card.

Lambert said the automated system will eliminate backups that could occur if a toll collector had to count the number of axles and wheels on the 8,000 vehicles that cross the bridge each day.

"This is going to be easier than people might think, " he said. "It's just the change that has people concerned."

For more information about the Leeville Bridge tolls, visit www.geauxpass.com.

mightyace

^^^ Yeah, stopping at a store or kiosk and getting out to get a one-time tag is better than stopping at a toll booth.  Yeah, right!  :-P
My Flickr Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyace

I'm out of this F***KING PLACE!

UptownRoadGeek

There is rumor going around that the CCC will become GeauxPass Only in a couple of years.  I think it would be best to have 1 or 2 Cash only lanes off to the side of the highway instead of TollTag Kiosks.  Now if only the Ferries took TollTags.

Alex

Quote from: NOLANOLA504 on July 09, 2009, 05:16:56 PM
There is rumor going around that the CCC will become GeauxPass Only in a couple of years.  I think it would be best to have 1 or 2 Cash only lanes off to the side of the highway instead of TollTag Kiosks.  Now if only the Ferries took TollTags.

This seems to be the trend. Some areas use a pay by plate format, and I suspect this will be instituted more and more as toll roads move away from paying attendants and maintaining conventional toll booths. They are studying converting the Atlantic City Expressway to cashless; the express lanes of the Crosstown Expressway in Tampa are already cashless.

UptownRoadGeek


Chris

After Katrina, traffic volumes on this section dropped from 120,000 to 60,000 - 80,000. I guess they're trying to push the destruction of the freeway through now that traffic volumes are (temporarily) low, argumenting it would'nt affect the traffic patterns that much on other freeways (you "only" have widen it with one or two lanes in each direction).

However, if traffic volumes get back at pre-Katrina levels, the problems will turn out to be much bigger. The Clairborne is the only freeway that serves downtown and adjacent areas from the east. You can't just cut this portion away from the network and think it'll be okay.

Anthony_JK

As much as I sympathize with reviving communites, this is an absolutely HORRIBLE idea.

First off; you are going to have to improve I-610 by both widening it to at least six lanes and upgrading both termini interchanges with existing I-10 in order to make it work.

Second..what do you do with the remaining stub of old I-10 near Elysian Fields Avenue....make it a short I-x10?? Tear it down totally?? (and then how do you connect the eastern portions of NOLA to downtown using the existing street system??

Third....DoTD just completed not five years ago improvements in access for the Claiborne Elevated segment with the Westbank/Ponchatrain Expressway. Why waste that??

Fourth....tearing down the Claiborne Elevated might promise some improvement...but how will the increased traffic really help reconnect the neighborhood when you still have to dodge cars just to cross the "boulevard"??

I say, dump this stupid idea and simply renovate the Claiborne Elevated with additional design and community amenities, as Lafayette is doing with their portion of I-49 South. There are far, far, far better means of upgrading  poor Black communities than this nonsense.


Anthony

UptownRoadGeek

This is the idea of some urban planner and one or two council members.  I doubt that it will ever come to fruition.  It is one of the stupidest ideas to be tossing around right now.

Not only would you have to widen I-610 but you would have to widen the already full to capacity I-10 from the Split to the Superdome.  The 610 Merge would have to be redone. The 610 Split would have to be redone.  There is no room to redo I-10 at Metairie/City Park which was just redone not to long ago. The Carrollton Interchange would have to be redone and the Claiborne flyover would have to be modified. The Broad and Jeff Davis overpasses will have to be redone as well.  Lakeview, City Park, and HANO would raise hell as well as Gentilly.

Hot Rod Hootenanny

Quote from: NOLANOLA504 on July 12, 2009, 11:36:34 AM
This is the idea of some urban planner and one or two council members.  I doubt that it will ever come to fruition.  It is one of the stupidest ideas to be tossing around right now.

Not only would you have to widen I-610 but you would have to widen the already full to capacity I-10 from the Split to the Superdome.  The 610 Merge would have to be redone. The 610 Split would have to be redone.  There is no room to redo I-10 at Metairie/City Park which was just redone not to long ago. The Carrollton Interchange would have to be redone and the Claiborne flyover would have to be modified. The Broad and Jeff Davis overpasses will have to be redone as well.  Lakeview, City Park, and HANO would raise hell as well as Gentilly.

Well, considering that the Carolton/US 61 interchange is a relic left over from the Ponchatrain Expwy. days I would have no problem with that being redesigned.
Actually, if I had a bottomless budget  :-D :colorful:, I would redo the Clairborne Flyover/Bus 90 interchange also.

We now return you back to reality.
Please, don't sue Alex & Andy over what I wrote above

Hot Rod Hootenanny

Speaking of the Baton Rouge Loop (what the local media calls it).
Couple of articles from the BR fishwrap about the latest proposals....
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/50550082.html
Maritime industry interests say they are concerned that the placement of bridges across the Mississippi River for the proposed Baton Rouge traffic loop could pose navigational and safety hazards for shippers, depending on where the spans are built and how they are designed.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/49787922.html
For the "northern loop" the bridge site will be immediately south of the current US 190 (Huey P. Long, aka "old bridge") bridge. They also drop proposals to route the loop north of Southern Univ. and near (another) Exxon-Mobil refinery on through my current residence between Zachary & Baker.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/business/44793337.html
Local survey shows support for a loop

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/44035752.html
Article about possible options for funding construction of said loop (this is from the end of April, 2009)
Please, don't sue Alex & Andy over what I wrote above

UptownRoadGeek

Quote from: osu-lsu on July 14, 2009, 12:28:35 AM
Well, considering that the Carolton/US 61 interchange is a relic left over from the Ponchatrain Expwy. days I would have no problem with that being redesigned.
Actually, if I had a bottomless budget  :-D :colorful:, I would redo the Clairborne Flyover/Bus 90 interchange also.

We now return you back to reality.
:-D

I wouldn't have a problem with it if a new expressway was built in its place.

I know I'm about to sound as bad as the people who want the old Treme back, but  I would really miss the Carrollton interchange  :-(.  Approaching it heading uptown on Carrollton at rush hour is surreal.  It's like 4 levels of traffic going up and down diagonally with I-10 above everything and a railroad overpass in the middle. :-P :sombrero: :D
It looks like something from a sci-fi movie.

How on earth could they knock it down and keep all 3 routes open while the rebuild the new one.

UptownRoadGeek

What are the odds of the BRLoop being a toll.
...and does anybody have any info on the Lafayette loop?

Hot Rod Hootenanny

Quote from: Annunciaton70130 on July 14, 2009, 12:50:35 AM
What are the odds of the BRLoop being a toll.
I'd give it 100% of it being a tollroad.  I'd give it a 40% of actually being built.
Please, don't sue Alex & Andy over what I wrote above

Anthony_JK

On the BR loop:
Probably the right decision to locate the northern branch adjacent to US 190, considering the expense of a loop further northward and the prohibitive cost of a new Mississippi River bridge further up.  It's going to be quite interesting, though, how they integrate the new tollway with existing US 190....especially with the existing railroad bridge, the junction of two raillines (UP/KCS with CN/IC), the existing at-grade crossing of Airline Hwy (current US 190) of the CN, and the narrow cloverleaf interchange with Scenic Highway, which is the principal route for folks going to Southern University and Scotlandville.  Personaly, I'd favor converting that interchange to a SPUI, myself.

The Lafayette Metro Xpressway (LMX, don't ask about the spelling) is right now in limbo, because most of the locals are still awaiting what funding will be made for the I-49 South/I-49 Connector freeway through Lafayette, which is seen as the higher priority, it not THE ONLY priority right now. I'm figuring that the LMX will ultimately be built as a private tollway, but only after I-49 is secured and funded.



Anthony

Darkchylde

If they tore down the Claiborne elevated section, they'd be condemning Lakeview, City Park and Gentilly to the purgatory that is Traffic Hell.  If the traffic that used the viaduct shifted to the local streets, traffic would become such a nightmare that going through the area would become unfeasible for anyone other than locals and masochists. Suppose it stayed on the rerouted Interstate, though... it's not justified to destroy those areas for the hypothetical restoration of North Claiborne currently "concurrent" with I-10.

Most likely, this is an idea being floated around because of the age of the Claiborne viaduct - just tear it down instead of rebuilding it. Rebuilding it could work, however, if they reconfigured it. Go Texas-style with it - use North Claiborne as feeder roads and convert it to a section like the elevated West Bank Expressway (Business 90). You don't see that area in its death throes due to that being there.

UptownRoadGeek

Quote from: Darkangel on July 19, 2009, 12:23:48 AM
... Go Texas-style with it - use North Claiborne as feeder roads and convert it to a section like the elevated West Bank Expressway (Business 90). You don't see that area in its death throes due to that being there.

...or use the pontchartrain expwy template from the dome to the GNO.

Anthony_JK

Quote from: Darkangel on July 19, 2009, 12:23:48 AM
If they tore down the Claiborne elevated section, they'd be condemning Lakeview, City Park and Gentilly to the purgatory that is Traffic Hell.  If the traffic that used the viaduct shifted to the local streets, traffic would become such a nightmare that going through the area would become unfeasible for anyone other than locals and masochists. Suppose it stayed on the rerouted Interstate, though... it's not justified to destroy those areas for the hypothetical restoration of North Claiborne currently "concurrent" with I-10.

Most likely, this is an idea being floated around because of the age of the Claiborne viaduct - just tear it down instead of rebuilding it. Rebuilding it could work, however, if they reconfigured it. Go Texas-style with it - use North Claiborne as feeder roads and convert it to a section like the elevated West Bank Expressway (Business 90). You don't see that area in its death throes due to that being there.

But isn't that how the Claiborne Elevated presently is set up, anyway?? The only difference between it and the Westbank is that there is no direct "slip ramps" between the elevated segment and the surface boulevard that is N. Claiborne Ave., but isolated direct exits to particular cross streets.

I'm not sure that the ROW within Claiborne Ave. is wide enough for a "Texas style" elevated highway...unless they double-decked and stacked it like freeways in Japan are constructed.  Then you could see some space for greenspace amenities. The cost would probably be prohibitive, but at least you would have a sufficient freeway segment that could handle the traffic, rather than the nightmare of a "boulevard" having to handle freeway-grade traffic.


Anthony

Anthony_JK

Moving clear to the other corner of the state....the process is now beginning to get in gear for the filling of the gap of Interstate 49 in Shreveport.

Contrary to what some have been posting recently about I-49 being diverted along LA 3132 (the Inner Loop Expressway/Terry Bradshaw Passway) and I-220, there is now a serious push to build a 3.2-mile elevated freeway that would connect the existing I-49 at its current terminus with I-20 to the southern terminus of proposed (and soon to be under construction) I-49 North with I-220. LaDOTD has began a Stage 0 Feasibility Study that will more than likely lead to an Enviornmental Study, an EIS, and a Record of Decision, though no funding is currently available as of the present.

They have also established a website for informing the public about the project, and for enticing community feedback:

http://www.i49shreveport.com

Hopefully, they will model the same design and community enhancement program that Lafayette used for their segment of the I-49 South/I-49 Connector project.


Anthony

UptownRoadGeek

Quote from: Anthony_JK on July 20, 2009, 07:00:32 PM

But isn't that how the Claiborne Elevated presently is set up, anyway?? The only difference between it and the Westbank is that there is no direct "slip ramps" between the elevated segment and the surface boulevard that is N. Claiborne Ave., but isolated direct exits to particular cross streets.

I'm not sure that the ROW within Claiborne Ave. is wide enough for a "Texas style" elevated highway...unless they double-decked and stacked it like freeways in Japan are constructed.  Then you could see some space for greenspace amenities. The cost would probably be prohibitive, but at least you would have a sufficient freeway segment that could handle the traffic, rather than the nightmare of a "boulevard" having to handle freeway-grade traffic.


Anthony

They could pull it off if they did it like the elevated Pontchartrain Expressway.

UptownRoadGeek


Bryant5493

I think this video that I shot is relevant to this conversation.

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=409.0
(It's in this thread.)


Be well,

Bryant
Check out my YouTube page (http://youtube.com/Bryant5493). I have numerous road videos of Metro Atlanta and other areas in the Southeast.

I just signed up on photobucket -- here's my page (http://s594.photobucket.com/albums/tt24/Bryant5493).

Darkchylde

Contract to be awarded this month for new I-12 interchange near Mandeville

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/08/a_contract_for_the_constructio.html

(This is for the long-proposed interchange between I-12 and LA 1088 northeast of Mandeville and within walking distance of my place.)

UptownRoadGeek




Opinions expressed here on belong solely to the poster and do not represent or reflect the opinions or beliefs of AARoads, its creators and/or associates.