Bearegard Town Livability

T-2

Observation

Beauregard Town’s locational asset — its prox-imity to Downtown — is also its chief liability with respect to traffic issues.

Discussion

Beauregard Town lies squarely between Interstate- 110 and the travel attractors in the southern part of Downtown such as the Centroplex, the Catfish Town Casino and most public buildings. Government Street, running through the center of Beauregard Town, is the major arterial street connecting these points.

The traffic strategy for the reclamation of Beauregard Town incorporates two major initiatives: (1) The transition of Gov-ernment Street from its current role as traffic dominated arterial street to an eventual role of neighborhood centerpiece and (2) the pursuit of a broad program of traffic-calming measures on the residential streets within Beauregard Town.

Many of the following recommendations are also discussed in the Beauregard Town section of this Plan.

Recommendation A

Restore two-way traffic on all streets within Beauregard Town, thereby reducing vehicular speeds, reducing vehicle miles of travel, and decreasing the number of turning movements within the neighborhood. For all local residential streets, allow parking to occur unrestricted, on either side of the street, with no marked parking areas. This traditional technique results in scattered parking, which slows traffic. [Beauregard Town Civic Association did not want to change the majority of their streets to two-way. The Baton Rouge Downtown Transportation Plan recommended additional parking along St. Joseph and Maximillian Streets and this was completed in April 2002. The Baton Rouge Downtown Trans-portation Plan recommended that Royal Street should be converted to two-way.]

Recommendation B

Restore two-way traffic to St. Ferdinand Street, thereby eliminating the forcing of northbound traffic from St. Ferdinand Street onto Penalvert Street, St. Charles Street and Somerulos Street northbound. It is possible that this rather circuitous one-way pair was intended to discourage the use of St. Ferdinand Street as a major north-south arterial. However, this result was never achieved, and instead the one-way pairing has resulted in the diversion of through trips into the center of Beauregard Town. Ferdinand Street (Priority Project approval). DPW is scheduled to complete this by Summer 2002.]

Recommendation C

Remove the diverter island at the in-tersection of St. Ferdinand Street and Penalvert Street, since it is no longer needed with these streets functioning as two-way streets. If there is a desire to prevent the “V turn” from St. Ferdinand southbound onto Penalvert or from St. Ferdinand northbound onto Somerulos, this objective can be accomplished simply through a “No Left Turn” or “No Right Turn” sign re-spectively. [The Baton Rouge Downtown Transportation Plan recommends the removal of the diverter island at St. Ferdinand and Penalvert Streets when St. Ferdinand is converted to two-way. This is projected to be completed by the end of 2002.]

Recommendation D

Remove the bulbouts on Somerulos, since these are no longer needed with the street in two-way operation. [The Baton Rouge Downtown Transportation Plan recommends the removal of the bulb-outs on Somerulos Street when St. Ferdinand is converted to two-way.]

Recommendation E

In restoring St. Louis Street and St. Philip Streets to two-way traffic, place metered parking on one side of each street (on the eastern side of St. Louis, and the western side of St. Philip). If rush hour traffic is a problem, mark “no parking” in the St. Louis parking lane from 7-9 AM, and in the St. Philip parking lane from 4-6 PM. [The Baton Rouge Downtown Transportation Plan does not recommend parking on the east side of St. Louis Street nor does it recommend parking on St. Phillip Street.]

Recommendation F

Remove the ramp-like street segment that accommodates the sweeping clockwise U-turn from St. Louis Street northbound onto the southbound Interstate-10 ramp, intended to speed traffic out of the Downtown. This freeway-like feature is out of place in Downtown. Its function, can be performed perfectly adequately by Europe Street and France Street. Once this sweeping turnaround is eliminated, it may also be possible to reopen Mayflower Street between St. Louis and St. Ferdinand. [The Baton Rouge Downtown Transportation Plan does not recommend the removal of the U-turn ramp from northbound St. Louis street to southbound to I-10. The ramp minimizes the impact of trucks accessing the interstate from south of downtown.]

Recommendation G

In order to slow speeders on East Boulevard, mark its continuous parallel parking spaces with fresh paint, and place additional Crepe Myrtles in the median encroaching the roadway. [The Baton Rouge Downtown Transportation Plan recommends the re-striping of on-street parking on East Boulevard.]

These Improvements are summarized in Exhibit C: Beauregard Town Traffic Improvements

Responsibility

Office of the Mayor

Project Status

Recommendation A

Beauregard Town Livability Beauregard Town Civic Association did not want to change the majority of their streets to two-way. The Baton Rouge Downtown Transportation Plan recommended additional parking along St. Joseph and Maximillian Streets and this was completed in April 2002. The Baton Rouge Downtown Transportation Plan recommended that Royal Street should be converted to two-way.

Recommendation B

The Baton Rouge Downtown Transportation Plan recommends the restoration of two-way traffic on St. Ferdinand Street (Priority Project approval). DPW is currently studying Phase I from Highland Road to Government Street.

Recommendation C

The Baton Rouge Downtown Transportation Plan recommends the removal of the diverter island at St. Ferdinand and Penalvert Streets when St. Ferdinand is converted to two-way. This is projected to be completed by the end of 2002.

Recommendation D

The Baton Rouge Downtown Transportation Plan recommends the removal of the bulb-outs on Somerulos Street when St. Ferdinand is converted to two-way.

Recommendation E

The Baton Rouge Downtown Transportation Plan does not recommend parking on the east side of St. Louis Street nor does it recommend parking on St. Phillip Street.

Recommendation F

The Baton Rouge Downtown Transportation Plan does not recommend the removal of the U-turn ramp from northbound St. Louis street to southbound to I-10. The ramp minimizes the impact of trucks accessing the interstate from south of downtown.

Recommendation G

The Baton Rouge Downtown Transportation Plan recommends the re-striping of on-street parking on East Boulevard.

Implementation

Explanation of Terms

Product

Comprehensive Road Improvements

Responsibility

OM & DDD

Implementing Agent

DPW

Feasibility Analysis

DPW

Initial Financing

PBR

Project Financing

CPF & FF

Timing