Widening I-10 within Baton Rouge

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

And you'd think Memorial Day would be a slow day for news.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/95239094.html?showAll=y&c=y

State transportation leaders plan to reopen a hot-button topic – whether and how to widen Interstate 10 from the foot of the Mississippi River Bridge to the I-10/I-12 split.
"We have to look at it again,"  said Sherri LeBas, interim secretary for the state Department of Transportation and Development.
The same state agency tried to win support a decade ago for a $200 million plan to widen the highway from the bridge to Essen Lane.
That push died amid fierce opposition from the Perkins Road overpass area, where business owners and others felt threatened.
Residents around the Washington and Carolina street areas, which is just east of the spot where motorists leave the bridge, also blasted the proposal...

I-10 @ Washington/Louise St. exits (just south of I-110)
http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=30.434114,-91.176417&spn=0.006568,0.009602&z=17

I-10 @ Perkins Rd (aka "The Overpass")
http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=30.42416,-91.15586&spn=0.006569,0.009602&z=17
P.S. The big building at the NW corner of Perkings & Acadian was torn down last year. Long after that photo was taken (old Walmart that closed in late 2004/early 2005)

[brownpelican]

One of my favorite Mexican joints is near the overpass (Zippy's). I'd hate to see it and other nearby businesses go, but I-10 needs widening. One of the main reasons Louisiana gets such bad marks for its roads is the 10/110 split. I can't believe they have yet to do anything about getting rid of the one-lane ramp.

[Removed unnecessary markup. -S.]

[UptownRoadGeek]

Isn't the Perkins Rd area going through some kind of revitalization? It'll be interesting to see what happens here.  I also wonder what approach they will take if the widen it since most of their new work in the GNO is starting to become more and more like a carbon copy of a Houston freeway.

[brownpelican]

Yes, but not near I-10. It's in area at and below Bluebonnet Blvd. The huge Perkins Rowe shopping center is in that area.

It will be interesting to see what happens along Perkins between Bluebonnet and Essen Lane now that the widening project is complete.

[UptownRoadGeek]

How is the current I-10/I-12 widening comming along and what are the plans for the split?

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Yes, but not near I-10. It's in area at and below Bluebonnet Blvd. The huge Perkins Rowe shopping center is in that area.

It will be interesting to see what happens along Perkins between Bluebonnet and Essen Lane now that the widening project is complete.

There are some restaurants/bars along Perkins Rd almost litterally up against I-10 (see map links in my original post) and that little "neighborhood" is which got the widening of I-10 stopped the last time this was discussed (begining of the decade).

[Fixed quoting. -S.]

[brownpelican]

But as far as recent development goes, nothing has really happened along that stretch of Perkins. All the new development has happened between Bluebonnet and Siegen.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

But as far as recent development goes, nothing has really happened along that stretch of Perkins. All the new development has happened between Bluebonnet and Siegen.

There was a hardware store that (tragicly) burned down couple of years back that is now being redeveloped as a mixed use development.
What had been a Walmart and a Books-a-million has been (finally) torn down, and a couple of restaurants have popped up there (at least they were there before I left in December)
And there has been several restaurants that have started up in that neighborhood in the last two-three years (post Katrina)
While Baton Rouge's city fathers are pushing downtown development and private developers are pushing greenfield development (Perkins Rowe, Rougzon, Bluebonnet, and others beyond EBR parish) that little collection of commercial properties there at Perkins between the railroad overpass (thus the "Overpass" name, Not I-10 going overhead) and Acadian-Stanford is doing alright with the Garden District, Southdown neighborhood and grad students, staff and faculty from LSU population their stores.
Don't let the Ohio Turnpike avatar fool you, I speak from experience down there.