Gas-line gridlock slows removal of storm debris
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Lengthy lines of motorists at gasoline stations are causing major congestion on Baton Rouge’s major streets, complicating city-parish storm debris-collection efforts in the wake of Hurricane Gustav.
“When we planned everything out, we didn’t anticipate this degree of gridlock, so we’re going to regroup and come up with another approach — even if we have to look at running our collection efforts from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.,’’ city-parish Public Works Director Pete Newkirk said Thursday afternoon.
Newkirk said panic-stricken motorists are blocking major roadways and clogging major intersections to get gasoline in some of the worst-hit areas of East Baton Rouge. As a result, Newkirk said, his crews have been forced to focus debris pickup in the northern and eastern parts of the parish, which weren’t necessarily the worst hit but don’t have the traffic congestion plaguing other areas.
“At this point, we’re looking for the areas that we can get to the quickest,’’ Newkirk said. “It’s weird because the areas where we tend to have the most debris are the areas where the gridlock is the worst.’’
Walter Monsour, chief administrative officer for Mayor-President Kip Holden, said there is no shortage of gasoline and asked motorists not to get into gas station lines unless they really need fuel.
“Please, don’t get in line just to top off your tank,’’ he said.
Monsour said debris-clearing efforts started Thursday morning in the Broadmoor and Sherwood Forest areas, but quickly ran into traffic snags. Monsour said the city-parish is looking at alternatives, including providing debris crews with police escorts.
Newkirk said the hardest-hit areas are those with large trees, such as the Garden District, Southdowns, Broadmoor and White Oak Landing.
Newkirk urged Baton Rouge residents to do their part by placing storm debris in their front yards near the curb where the debris won’t interfere with garbage or recycling pickup, which also resumed Thursday.
Newkirk said the city-parish accepted emergency bids from debris haulers Wednesday and was in the process of awarding contracts Thursday. He said DPW workers will collect the debris from curbsides and take the debris to designated staging areas, where haulers will pick it up and take it to the landfill.
“Our goal is to have the debris there at the staging areas for no more than a week or so,’’ Newkirk said.
Contributing to the traffic congestion is the fact that most of the traffic signals are still not functioning. Chief traffic engineer Ingolf Partenheimer said that only 80 of the 465 traffic signals were functioning Thursday afternoon.
Every traffic signal in the parish was knocked out of commission by the storm. By contrast, Partenheimer said, 187 traffic signals in the parish were damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
“When we planned everything out, we didn’t anticipate this degree of gridlock, so we’re going to regroup and come up with another approach — even if we have to look at running our collection efforts from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.,’’ city-parish Public Works Director Pete Newkirk said Thursday afternoon.
Newkirk said panic-stricken motorists are blocking major roadways and clogging major intersections to get gasoline in some of the worst-hit areas of East Baton Rouge. As a result, Newkirk said, his crews have been forced to focus debris pickup in the northern and eastern parts of the parish, which weren’t necessarily the worst hit but don’t have the traffic congestion plaguing other areas.
“At this point, we’re looking for the areas that we can get to the quickest,’’ Newkirk said. “It’s weird because the areas where we tend to have the most debris are the areas where the gridlock is the worst.’’
Walter Monsour, chief administrative officer for Mayor-President Kip Holden, said there is no shortage of gasoline and asked motorists not to get into gas station lines unless they really need fuel.
“Please, don’t get in line just to top off your tank,’’ he said.
Monsour said debris-clearing efforts started Thursday morning in the Broadmoor and Sherwood Forest areas, but quickly ran into traffic snags. Monsour said the city-parish is looking at alternatives, including providing debris crews with police escorts.
Newkirk said the hardest-hit areas are those with large trees, such as the Garden District, Southdowns, Broadmoor and White Oak Landing.
Newkirk urged Baton Rouge residents to do their part by placing storm debris in their front yards near the curb where the debris won’t interfere with garbage or recycling pickup, which also resumed Thursday.
Newkirk said the city-parish accepted emergency bids from debris haulers Wednesday and was in the process of awarding contracts Thursday. He said DPW workers will collect the debris from curbsides and take the debris to designated staging areas, where haulers will pick it up and take it to the landfill.
“Our goal is to have the debris there at the staging areas for no more than a week or so,’’ Newkirk said.
Contributing to the traffic congestion is the fact that most of the traffic signals are still not functioning. Chief traffic engineer Ingolf Partenheimer said that only 80 of the 465 traffic signals were functioning Thursday afternoon.
Every traffic signal in the parish was knocked out of commission by the storm. By contrast, Partenheimer said, 187 traffic signals in the parish were damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
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