Transportation

Transportation improvements will play a significant role in Downtown Baton Rouge reemergence as an entertainment and business destination, bordered by neighborhoods of increasing value.

The transportation improvements all represent a rebalancing of priorities. Currently, a single objective, traffic flow, dominates traffic patterns, at the expense of the downtown’s commercial and residential viability. These improvements place a higher value on the livability of the streets for all users, and a correspondingly lower value on the single goal of moving as much traffic as rapidly as possible. In most cases, dramatic improve­ments in pedestrian viability will result from only the slightest increases in automotive travel times.

The improvements detailed below can be summarized as follows

T-1 Implement a livable traffic program in the Downtown neighborhood of Spanish Town.

T-2 Implement a livable traffic program in the Downtown neighborhood of Beauregard Town.

T-3 Reclaim Government Street as a neighborhood focus rather than an arterial street, and gain further use of South Boulevard as an important Downtown access route.

T-4 Restore two-way traffic on Main Street and North Street, to improve access to the two large planned state parking garages and also to reduce traffic impacts on the southern border of Beauregard Town. Eventually, restore most Downtown streets to two-way use.

T-5 Reclaim River Road, converting an oversized and battered arterial highway into a community asset.

T-6 Gain more use of the attractive but underused Capitol Access Road, and connect it to a full network of streets on the north side of the Capitol.

T-7 Add full mobility to the ramps on Interstate-110, making full entry/exit into Downtown possible at all ramp loca­tions.

T-8 Reconfigure the streetscapes of Third Street to include two-way traffic and parking.

T-9 Add parallel parking lanes within the roadway of streets with excess traffic capacity.

T-10Promote alternative transportation through high quality bicycle connections, and an internal jitney loop throughout Downtown.

T-11Advance conceptual plans for transit use of Downtown’s rail alignment.

T-12Investigate the possibility of regional rail service to sur­rounding towns and cities.

These improvements are summarized in Exhibit A: Transpor­tation Improvements Overview. Exhibit B - D concern the specific projects described below in greater detail. Exhibit E, Thoroughfare Modifications, summarizes recommended changes on a street-by-street basis.

[The State of Louisiana and the City of Baton Rouge funded a comprehensive study of the transportation needs in downtown. The Baton Rouge Downtown Transportation Plan, completed in September 2001, reviewed the strategies in Plan Baton Rouge and made recommendations based on their research.]

Street Signage

As the motorist approaches Downtown Baton Rouge from north or south on Interstate-110, the signage for the exits does not clearly communicate the downtown destination. Signs indicate street names only; for instance, the occasional visitor may not realize that the exit which reads “Exit 1D, North Street” is an exit directly into the downtown area.

All signs along Interstate-110 which provide access to Down­town should be modified to indicate that, by taking one of these exits, a freeway motorist will access Downtown Baton Rouge. The following is a list of proposed modifications to the existing sequence of signs along the freeway approach. These modific­ations will make it much easier for motorists on Interstate-110 to find their downtown destinations.

[LA DOTD has scheduled Interstate sign replacement for 2003 using the suggestions listed below.]