Legislators Say New Highway Across EBR Worth Study

March 13, 2011 0 Comments

BATON ROUGE — The Capital Region Legislative Delegation wants to study a new East-West highway across East Baton Rouge Parish. Rep. Bodi White (R-Central) said the legislators want to use $500,000 in already-appropriated funds to look at a plan primarily using existing rights-of-way.

The plan would probably foreclose further work on the proposed Baton Rouge Loop, he said. The new highway would begin on I-10 in West Baton Rouge Parish, go north to the old Mississippi River Bridge, follow Airline Hwy. to S. Choctaw and head east along S. Choctaw, crossing BREC land south of the Illinois Central Railroad in Central, and then crossing the Amite River with a new bridge to Denham Springs.

White said local legislators have met with Gov. Bobby Jindal on the idea, which is part of the area delegation’s 2011 legislative priorities.

The Capital Region Legislative Delegation includes state senators and representatives from East Baton Rouge and surrounding parishes.

Several other items on the delegation’s priority list for 2011 could have an impact on Central:

• $10 million to four-lane Hooper Road from Blackwater to Joor. Hooper is currently four-laned from Plank Road to Blackwater, and it is scheduled to be four-laned from Joor to Sullivan. However, there is no current plan to four-lane it from Blackwater to Joor. This money would fund that work, make Hooper a four-lane road from Plank Road to Sullivan, and allow ready access to I-110 and the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport.

• $6 million for studying extending Hooper Road across the Amite River to Hwy. 16 in Livingston Parish (see Page 3).

• $1 million toward the cost of constructing the BREC park at Hooper and Lovett roads.

The delegation’s priorities include a number of other items including $33 million for widening I-12.

The $500,000 for a study of the new East-West highway across East Baton Rouge Parish would not be a new appropriation. White said it would come from $500,000 previously set aside from federal stimulus funds.

The delegation’s priority plan is not binding on the governor or other legislators but it does provide an indication of what appropriations state senators and representatives from the Capitol region will be pushing in the legislative session which begins in April.

By Woody Jenkins, Editor, Central City News