WBR area protests loop plan

• By ROY PITCHFORD
• Advocate Westside bureau
• Published: Feb 29, 2008 - Page: 1B

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PORT ALLEN — The doors were opening Thursday afternoon to enable the West Baton Rouge Parish Public Scoping Meeting and Open House on the Baton Rouge Loop to get under way.

David Barber, of the Antonio community near Brusly, was in no hurry to go inside the Community Center in Port Allen. He was unloading plastic stand-up signs like those used by political candidates.

The signs called on West Baton Rouge Parish residents to “say no” to plans for any new Mississippi River bridge serving the parish downstream of the present Interstate 10 span linking Port Allen and Baton Rouge.

“I got the signs this morning,” Barber said. “You pay a lot more for them when you get them quick.”

Projected to cost about $4 billion and take eight to 10 years to build, the 90- to 100-mile loop is needed, backers say, to lighten traffic loads on Interstates 10 and 12 through East Baton Rouge and adjacent parishes, while opening potential new areas to economic and residential development.

This week, Baton Rouge Loop planners held public open houses on the project in Baton Rouge, Gonzales, Denham Springs and Port Allen. The fifth and final session in the series is scheduled in Iberville Parish from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday at the Plaquemine Civic Center, 24700 J. Gerald Beret Blvd., Plaquemine.

People who live in the Antonio community began mobilizing a week before Thursday’s  session on the proposed loop project. Barber said concerned Antonians  distributed a letter, bought an advertisement in the weekly West Side Journal newspaper and sent e-mails.

Grumbling about the loop arose at a meeting of the Antonio Homeowners Association on Tuesday.

The motivating factor was a statement by Parish President Riley “Peewee” Berthelot that loop planners are considering an Interstate-type road between Emily Drive and Alene Street (in the Brusly area) with a new bridge over the Mississippi River at Cinclare.

Cinclare, a historic sugar mill site, quickly became a focal point of those opposing the loop dipping down into the Brusly area, but they also warned that  such a bridge would be close to area schools and would likely  feed increased traffic into residential areas.

Association member Babs Babin circulated an e-mail saying West Baton Rouge Parish, with its small land area, already has two Mississippi River bridges.

Babin’s e-mail included a flier urging those opposed to a Brusly-area bridge to attend Thursday’s loop meeting in Port Allen, or the loop meeting planned for Monday in Plaquemine. The handout called on residents to complete questionnaires and to give an opinion in opposition to a Brusly-area bridge.

An unsigned flier was placed on all cars in the Addis Community Center parking lot Tuesday, while the West Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce was conducting its annual meeting and banquet.