Livingston residents divided on loop effects

• By BOB ANDERSON
• Advocate Florida parishes bureau
• Published: Feb 28, 2008 - Page: 1B

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DENHAM SPRINGS — Livingston Parish residents expressed strong, divergent opinions during a public meeting on the Baton Rouge Loop project Wednesday.

Some see the proposed project as a blessing in reducing traffic congestion and spurring economic growth. Others object to possible routes that could affect their homes or businesses.

The 90- to 100-mile loop, expected to cost about $4 billion and take eight to 10 years to build, is being designed to ease traffic congestion on Interstates 10 and 12 through Baton Rouge and adjacent parishes, while opening potential new areas to economic and residential development.

“It’s something we’ve been trying to get for years and years and years,” said John Ware, executive director of the Livingston Parish Economic Development Council.

Not having a loop has put the area out of competition for a lot of economic opportunities, he said.

“I’m concerned we are losing the concept of a true loop designed to go around a major metropolitan area,” said state Sen. Dale Erdey, R-Livingston. “It’s not going around. It’s going through.”

The proposed routes that remain under consideration would affect thousands of people adversely, Erdey said.

A route that goes farther north would make more sense, because urban spread would reach it by the time the loop gets built, Erdey said.

“Why don’t they back up a mile and make it a loop for the future?” asked Livingston Parish Councilman Jimmie McCoy, expressing a similar opinion.

For many of the 500 people who attended Wednesday night’s session, the issue was much more personal.

John Kenneth Stafford, of Walker, said one of the routes of the loop would run through his home and the homes of his son, his brother and his parents who are in their 90s.

A slight change of the route would put it going through forest land instead, he said.

Mike Bruce of ABMB Engineers, one of the firms coordinating the planning, told Stafford to include that information in his written comments because the routes are not final.