What is the deal w/US 190???

[cjk374]

I have made 2 trips to Slidell in the last 2 months to visit my son who has recently moved down there.  I've driven around to get familiar with the area and explore areas I've never seen before.  My question is this... WHY ISN'T US 190 A 4-LANE BETWEEN SLIDELL AND MANDEVILLE?????   I haven't seen traffic that bad on a 2-lane road in an loooong time.  Up here in north LA, we've always heard that all of the road money went to south LA and we were the abused red-headed stepchild.  Seeing that, and the catatrophe that is I-10 in Baton Rouge, I now know this to be a myth, and apparently the politians have been pocketing the money for themselves  .  Please tell me I'm not the only one who has seen this and wondered the same thing...

[codyg1985]

I think the plan is the widen it with some sections seeing three, four, or five lane configurations. There's a thread somewhere on here that talks more about it, but I can't remember where it is.

EDIT:  Here is the thread in question.

[froggie]

I think it's more than that.  LaDOTD has been under a Legislative mandate over the past 20 years to 4-lane critical corridors across the state, including finishing US 90 between Houma and Lafayette, US 61, US 165, and US 171.  DOTD also has an (IMO) overly large state highway system which, even with the relatively lower costs in the Deep South, isn't cheap to maintain.  As I recall, that 2006 windfall (over $600 million) went largely to maintenance and repaving projects.

Louisiana's development patterns and tendency towards "gated communities" (even if they aren't gated, there's still often only one way in-and-out) also contribute to the traffic problem.

I'm not convinced that 190 needs widening west of Northshore Blvd (or Thompson Rd/LA 433 at a stretch).  Improvements, yes, but not a full-scale widening.  East of Northshore to US 11, though, definitely needs 4 lanes.

[Ace10]

US-90 is also two lanes where it splits off with MS-607, through to where US-190 begins, and possibly past that. My family takes that drive a lot when we visit family in Slidell (we live in Biloxi). But since there are lots of bridges over the Pearl River and a few other rivers/bayous/whatever, I doubt they'd 4-lane US-90 in that area.

[froggie]

There isn't a need to 4-lane US 90 in that area, either.