Southern loop route proposed

• By JOHN MCMILLAN
• Advocate River parishes bureau
• Published: Mar 27, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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GONZALES — Ascension Parish President Tommy Martinez is proposing a new southern route for the Baton Rouge loop that he says avoids subdivisions and affects few, if any, homes.

Basically, the route would run from Port Allen down La. 1, curve around Plaquemine and cross the Mississippi River, probably at St. Gabriel.

From there, it would track along La. 30, cut behind the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center and have an interchange with Interstate 10 at approximately the site of the old rest stop between Gonzales and Sorrento. From there, a spur would connect with La. 70.

From I-10, the loop would travel north of the Ascension Civic Center in Sorrento and hug the southern and eastern edge of Ascension Parish until it would cross La. 42 near the Amite River and continue on to Walker, where it would connect with Interstate 12.

Martinez said even if the route is eventually approved and funding is found, it still would be 15 to 30 years before it would be built.
However, the corridor could be preserved in the meantime, Martinez said.

The route “makes sense and I think it can be done with minimum impact,” Martinez said.

“People have to decide whether they want to sit in traffic or get to their destination rapidly,” he said.

“If you think traffic is bad now, if we don’t give truckers an alternate route, it’s going to be unimaginable in the years to come,” predicted Martinez, who served as legislative liaison with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development as well as executive director of DOTD’s Louisiana Offshore Oil Port before he took office in January.

“People not being able to get from Point A to Point B is the biggest killer of economic development,” he said.

Martinez said a decision on the northern and southern routes would be made by the Baton Rouge Loop Executive Committee in May.

The northern route from Port Allen to Livingston Parish would be built first, since it would be used by commercial traffic transporting goods from coast to coast, Martinez said.

Mike Bruce, a managing principal with ABMB Engineers Inc., which is a consultant on the loop project, agreed that the northern route would be built first. “That’s just common sense. Trucks would use it and it would pick up a lot of local traffic, too. Preliminary numbers indicate that’s the most traveled route.”

Bruce also said the southern route proposed by Martinez is “a very viable route. It’s certainly in the mix for strong consideration. We are looking closely at that one.”