Loop opponents turned back

• By ROY PITCHFORD
• Advocate Westside bureau
• Published: Mar 28, 2008 - Page: 4B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Twitter
• Social Media

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

PORT ALLEN — A crowd of Brusly and Addis residents asked the West Baton Rouge Council to go on the record Thursday night in opposition to a proposed Baton Rouge loop bridge over the Mississippi River being planted anywhere near their communities.

Council members said, “No,” on a 3-6 vote.

About 80 people came to the meeting with a petition containing almost 1,450 signatures in support of the anti-bridge resolution. But council members were not swayed.

Parish President Riley “Peewee” Berthelot told the crowd that the suggested bridge site which has drawn the most vocal opposition, a location near the Cinclare sugar mill, would be removed from consideration at the April 17 meeting of the Loop Executive Committee.

Berthelot said the Cinclare mill’s status as a historic site is the main reason for that move.

However, Berthelot said a site near Addis is one of a handful of possible bridge locations still being considered.

The petition opposed, “a bridge crossing at Cinclare, Addis or anywhere south of the Intracoastal Canal in West Baton Rouge Parish.”

The protestors said they favor the concept of a Baton Rouge Loop — a 90- to 100-mile, $4 billion express highway encircling the Capital City’s metropolitan area — and said they would like to see such a bridge in Iberville Parish, south of Plaquemine.

When voting began, it quickly became apparent the resolution would not be adopted, though several council members qualified their votes.

Jeff Kershaw voted no. He said he was concerned about the proposed location, but said he felt the council needed to show trust and confidence in Berthelot.

Keith Washington called the resolution “premature.”

Gary Spillman, who represents a district in the northern part of the parish, said he was tired of hearing about “north-south issues” in West Baton Rouge.

Spillman said that current plans call for the northern part of the loop to be constructed first, and said his area would feel the effects of the plan long before the Brusly-Addis area.