Heads up, travelers!

Road work will impact I-12/I-59 interchange at Slidell Thursday (source: Times-Picayune)

This is what I live for...

Here's the gist of it - Thursday, September 8, 2011:

• I-12 EAST: Right lane closed at mile marker 85.5 - Left lane open but expect delays
• I-59 SOUTH: The ramp to I-10 eastbound will be CLOSED.

If you want to get to eastbound I-10 from I-59, the best way is to take the exit to I-10 WEST and turn around at one of the Slidell interchanges. I suggest Exit 265, Business US 190 - it's not quite as congested as Gause (US 190).

Closures start at 9 am and are expected to last til 2 pm.

Walkabout UPD*TE

Tropical depression possibly coming ashore. Camera dies, so I gotta get a new one. Feet are killing me. One of the pictures is on the Interstate itself and I went on foot.

Does that make me dedicated, hardcore or insane? You be the judge.

First, some new signage:



These signs appear to be going up on every Interstate in Louisiana - at the least, I saw them on I-12 between Exits 63 and 83, and apparently they're on I-10 between the I-12/I-59 split and the Louisiana/Mississippi state line.

Damn, my feet hurt. Owww.

Updated:

LA 1088: Three new shots eastbound near the new interchange with I-12. Two new shots westbound, same area. Updated a lot of the captions to reflect the new interchange's existence.
I-12: The shot above, plus one more close to Exit 68.

More coming as soon as I'm not in so much pain. Where's the ice?

LA 1088/I-12 interchange contract to be awarded this month

NOLA.com - Contract to be awarded this month for new I-12 interchange near Mandeville

It's about damn time, coming from someone who lives within walking distance of the area where roadwork will commence. We've been waiting for this interchange to be built for my entire life, it seems. It's always been pushed back. Just to keep waiting, and waiting, and waiting...

Now is the time. I ranted against a school being built on 1088 between I-12 and LA 36 back in February because of the lack of an interchange and the potential for a traffic jam right in front of my house. Of course, who listens to me? They opened it anyway. At least traffic's not so bad... yet.

Once they begin work on the interchange, it will become a nightmare. Why? Because they'll be improving LA 1088 to a divided highway in the process. This is still a good thing, as the added capacity for LA 1088 will be needed. It's not just for the locals - traffic in Mandeville proper will be able to shave about six miles from an eastbound trip on the Interstate over the current interchange at LA 59. It'll relieve that interchange of some traffic from the south and from the north (connecting to I-12 from LA 1088 shaves even more mileage over LA 36 West and LA 59 south to I-12 - though far fewer people live on parts of LA 36 that would benefit, and no one lives on that part of 1088 yet.) Problem is, traffic at that interchange is insane, and even 1/4 of that traffic would choke a two-lane highway.

But the process of widening 1088 would choke things up for a while even if they left the existing two-lane carriageway alone while they built one parallel.

Still, gripes aside, this is something that has been needed in the worst way for years and will relieve traffic all over the extended Mandeville area. Plus, it's an interchange I could photograph by walking... can't wait for that opportunity.

Interstate UPD*TE

...Wow, it rhymes.

Clinches
Highways: I-910, US 90-Z, LA 3046 (Clinched new flyover ramp), Spur LA 41

New:

I-910: 27 snaps of the westbound unsigned Interstate in New Orleans and on the Westbank.
Spur LA 41: Ten snaps, mostly covering westbound. Includes a lazy oddity for the AARoads Shield Gallery, should they want it.

Updated:

I-10: Added two pictures of eastbound at the I-12/I-59 split in Slidell.
I-12: Added ten pictures of eastbound from Airport Road to the I-10/I-59 split in Slidell. Finally got the other pictures in order. Geotagged those and fixed descriptions of some older pics.
I-59: Added twelve pictures of northbound from the southern terminus at I-10/I-12 in Slidell to Exit 5A in Pearl River.
US 11: Added a snap of the old bridge in Slidell and four snaps of the northbound concurrency with I-59 in Pearl River.
LA 59: Added two pictures at the reconfigured southern terminus.

To-do:

US 90: Need to add coverage of eastbound between Business US 90 near Westwego and I-10/I-910/Business US 90 in New Orleans, including snaps of the Huey P. Long Bridge. Also need to add those snaps between LA 1 and I-310.
US 90-Z: Need to add snaps of non-freeway portion westbound between I-910 end and US 90.
US 190: Need to add some assorted snaps.
Lake Ponchartrain Causeway: Need to completely replace northbound coverage.
LA 3046: Need to add a northbound snap or two.
North Causeway Approach: Need to add northbound coverage.

End Of The Earth UPD*TE, Part 1

I finally took that trip to Grand Isle that I've been threatening to do ever since I got the Buick. Out of it, I took over 290 pictures. Some are unusable, though, so I'm going through what I do have, and updating piecemeal-stylee.

Clinches
Parishes: Lafourche Parish
Highways: US 51-X

Here's what I do have done.

New:

I-310: 38 pictures. Covers both southbound and northbound all the way between I-10 and US 90. Photographically clinched, both directions.
US 51-X: AKA Business US 51 in Ponchatoula and Hammond, LA. Six pictures of southbound between LA 22 and I-55/US 51 to start - however, I also went and photographically clinched it northbound, so expect more within the next couple of days.
LA 1 (Northbound): 17 pictures. Covers LA 1 North from Grand Isle to LA 308 in Golden Meadow.

(I've decided right now to split the album into northbound and southbound from the start, as I'm predicting both albums combined may have as many as 300-500 pictures apiece by this time next year. LA 1 is longer than Longcat, after all.)

Updated:

I-10: Added nine pictures of eastbound between I-55 and I-310.
I-12: Added seven pictures of the new Exit 60 signage from Friday. They're not geotagged or sorted yet.
I-55/US 51: Added 17 pictures of I-55 South and 15 pictures of US 51 South, of the concurrency between Exit 22 and LaPlace.
LA 22: Added eight pictures of westbound between LA 21 and Business US 51 South.

To-Do:

I-55: Got a couple of shots from northbound of the Exit 29 (I-12) complex and of the Exit 31 advance signage. Also got the brief bit of northbound between Old US 51 and Business US 51. Done!
US 51: There's a couple of stray shots in Hammond between US 51-X/190 and I-55 to add. Done!
US 51-X: Got to upload northbound, meaning a couple need cleaning. Damned fire orb in the sky. Someone please blow it up already. :P Done as it's getting for now.
Old US 51: The old road between LaPlace and Ponchatoula. I traveled it northbound. Wasn't much to see. Did take a few snaps, they'll get upped... probably last.
US 90: Need to add shots of westbound between I-310/LA 3127 and LA 1, and eastbound between LA 308 and I-310/LA 3127.
US 190: Took shots of eastbound between I-55 and LA 25. Need to sort the buggers. Also need to see if a shot in Mandeville or two needs updating. Done!
LA 1 (Southbound): Plenty of shots between US 90 and Grand Isle. Got to upload, sort and tag. (That'll be the Major Pain.) Done!
LA 22: Still got a couple more to add of the concurrency in Ponchatoula with US 51-X... and they got sunbleached. Usual BS. Done for now
LA 308: Took a few pics of that northbound, just need to clean them up.
World's Longest Continuous Viaduct: Yes, I actually do plan to make this album... call it a project, like the "Former LA 25" project that I still plan to do soon.

*****

One More Thing: I've thought about something that could be confusing, and I want to clear it up. Notice that some of my albums of old highways are named "Old (highway)," while others are called "Former (highway)." There's actually a rationale for that.

"Old" highways: These are highways whose former designation has been rerouted, most likely to a nearby new alignment such as a bypass, or to the Interstate or something. (Examples: Old US 11 (moved to nearby I-59), Old US 190 (moved to a different alignment nearby))

"Former" highways: These are truncated or decommissioned highways, either in whole or in the part near the section labeled "Former." (Examples: Former US 65 (truncated and replaced by US 425), Former LA 1093-2 (decommissioned entirely))

Now that we've cleared that up...

Some miles down, about seventy to go

The Advocate - I-12 work to begin

...And so it begins. The end is near for the daily gridlock at LA 3245 (O'Neal Lane) and Interstate 12. Work will begin to widen I-12 to three lanes from O'Neal Lane to just east of Pete's Highway eastbound, and from 4-H Club Road to O'Neal westbound. The hardest bit will most likely be widening the bridges crossing the Amite River - as they stand right now, they are only two lanes wide with absolutely no shoulders to speak of. I'm hoping they add some shoulders with those new travel lanes.

The project is slated to be complete by Thanksgiving 2011, meaning traffic will exceed the work done by the day after Thanksgiving 2011. Going only that far will do nothing but move the daily gridlock from O'Neal over to Denham Springs. The rest of I-12 to the east will continue to be perpetually overloaded with truckers who think they're driving Ferraris, career women weaving from the acceleration lane to the #1 lane at 90mph while fixing their makeup and sipping coffee, and unsafe vehicles carrying their nonsecure loads at ten miles under the speed limit.

In other words, this is where I again advocate for the entirety of I-12 to be widened to no less than three travel lanes in either direction. Don't get me wrong, this is a good start. I'm just saying that while this work is going on, we as a state should be putting together what's needed to widen another segment afterward.

Warning: Very Profane Rant.

Times-Picayune - State vows I-12 link in St. Tammany will be built

You vow, huh? Ain't you been vowing to get the damn interchange built for years now? I seem to remember that it was supposed to be built in the '90s as part of the LA 3241 project. As a standalone, it's been pushed back several times in the last few years alone. I'd still be willing to wait even now if waiting for that highway was an option. But at a time like this, it's not optional anymore. There's a school going up soon, a high school that will choke a "minor secondary highway" to the point of being absolutely useless. Ten miles of peaceful driving will soon become ten miles of brain-numbing gridlock.

There's plenty of problems with that scenario. First off, LA 1088 isn't "minor" or "secondary" to the people who live on it. It's our lifeline to the rest of the world. As it is, I have to go way out of my way to get anywhere now without having to pass through a damn school zone. I'm sure others here feel the same way, they're just too scared of getting lynched by the pro-family morons to make a peep. There's also the fact that any traffic coming in from the west or south have to go through a residential neighborhood to get to that school, until the interchange is built.

Seriously, what the hell are you idiots at DoTD smoking? Do you bastards remember how badly LA 59 was choked in the 90's having to support a high school, and how much it worsened when the junior high opened up next door? Those kind of schools, a two-lane highway simply can not do the job. Even a two-lane highway with a turning lane of some kind can't handle it. High schools in this area require four lanes at minimum to ease any impact on traffic.

Remember, you not only have to deal with bus traffic, car traffic from parents dropping their kids off and more car traffic from faculty going to work daily, you also have to deal with hundreds of stupid teenagers trying to get in there at the last possible minute because they overslept. You hope they were cramming for exams, but they were probably either getting high or getting laid. Most likely, both. The teenagers around here are far from being angels, after all. (I speak from personal experience.)

In case you've forgotten about all this, feel free to drop by any time. The gridlock's still there, all those years later.

At the least, though, LA 59 has an interchange at I-12 that helps relieve some of the traffic. LA 59 North past the Interstate is a breeze even during school zone hours. Ah, but LA 1088 doesn't. It needs it before anyone even thinks of opening a damn high school. Yes, I'm also talking to you, St. Tammany Parish School Board.

What makes you think some of us want a gridlock and beaten sheep factory on our highway anyway? (Calm, calm... I will not be a NIMBY, I will not be a NIMBY...)

Fact remains, at the moment, the roads in the area of that new school can't possibly support it. Aside from being a lonely two-lane highway, there are no lights... in fact, there's nothing nearby. The nearest Sheriff's substation is about 12 minutes away. 12 minutes is a lot of time for mischief and mayhem. It's a ton of time if someone gets hurt or worse. There's no services nearby - if you run out of gas or overheat your car, you're mega-screwed. In fact, that school's almost begging to become an unofficial annex of Lacombe (which is the crackhead and crime capital of the parish).

They may as well call it Lacombe North already.

At the least, can't they hold off opening the thing until there's an interchange, so a residential neighborhood can be spared a lot of headaches, unnecessary emissions and noise? More importantly, so my sanity can be spared? Some of us like being able to start the day with a few miles at max speed before hitting Congestion City, after all.

They can't and they won't, naturally. Delays are only tolerable so long as a school isn't affected. "Think of the children," after all. I say to hell with the damned children already. "Why" is a matter for a different post entirely, probably on the Livejournal.

Anyway.

So I'm putting any of the politicians who have any chance of getting either the school delayed or the interchange sped up on notice here - if you open that school sooner than an interchange is built and we suffer here due to it, you're not only getting a no vote from me, but from others. There are more than just me who think as I do, and I will rally them. Me personally, if it's you versus Charles Manson in the next election, I'll vote for Manson just to spite you. If it's you versus Satan himself, then I'm wearing my "Satan (next election year for your seat)" button proudly. I don't care if your next opponent's a thief, a serial killer, or if they eat babies. You will become the greatest of all evils in my eyes. I'll do everything in my power to put them over and shut you down.

Build the interchange first before you even think of overloading our highway system, or you will find out how bleak your careers are in the face of an angry voter with no life. I don't care if you in Baton Rouge have to use some of the one-time surplus this year... I don't care if you have to use it all, every last dime. Get this thing done, pronto!

P.S. - You should have never re-paved the section of 1088 north of I-12, DoTD. It would have been nice to make all those "elite" idiots lose their suspension for a year or two on that road. :P

Stimulus Wishlist

Times-Picayune - Louisiana's share of stimulus pegged at $3.8 billion

Of that, $455 million is slated to go to bridge and road work and repairs. Here's some of the things I'd do with that if I was in charge of DoTD and wasn't hampered by pre-work things like environmental impact studies. (They're important, but not for hypothetical thinking.)

* Widening of Interstate 12 between Juban Road and I-10/I-59 to six lanes
* Putting gates and lights at all non-private rail crossings in the state
* Reconfiguration of the I-10/I-110 split in Baton Rouge
* Construction of an interchange between LA 1088 (Future LA 3241) and I-12 northeast of Mandeville
* Build a relief route for I-59 (designated as US 11) in eastern St. Tammany Parish (looking forward to hurricane season), utilizing the old US 11 routing if possible (it was good enough before) - US 11 can still cross the West Pearl co-signed with I-59 to save money

Now, obviously that kind of money might not be enough, especially with that I-10/110 split reconfiguration in there, but those are projects that I believe would drastically help traffic flow, especially in the Florida Parishes. That includes the relief route. I blogged last year about how hellish I-59 was, and I believe a relief route could at least make it a little easier to get the first important thing out of the way - getting the hell out of Louisiana when there's a hurricane coming. Designating it as US 11 just makes sense - it'd make that highway important here again.

As for the gates and lights suggestion, that's just my little pet crusade.

Mississippi UPD*TE Part Deux

Ok, so technically, this upd*te isn't all Mississippi, and the sun ruined some of it. Bleh, I posted it all anyway. I can always replace the sunbleached pics come spring.

New:

US 98: 11 pics of westbound between Foxworth and Tylertown - some sunbleached
LA 437: Four pics of southbound in Covington - part of the ongoing Old LA 25 project
Spur La 437: Four pics of southbound in Covington, photographically Clinched southbound - part of the ongoing Old LA 25 project
MS 27: Seven pictures of southbound from Tylertown to the state line - some sunbleached
MS 35: Five pictures of northbound from the state line to US 98 in Foxworth

Updated:

I-12: Added seven pictures of eastbound between US 190 and LA 59, including pics of the replaced I-59 trailblazers at the LA 59 exit
Business US 190 (Covington): Added two pictures of westbound at the eastern end
LA 21: Added 37 pictures from Covington to the state line, photographically Clinched northbound
LA 25: Added 22 pictures from the state line to Covington, photographically Clinched southbound - some sunbleached

...As usual, all pics are geotagged for her pleasure, and snarky comments come free of charge!

Impending Baton Rouge chokepoint...

The Advocate - Project on I-10 to begin

Vague title, but the section in question is the one immediately east of the I-10/I-12 split in Baton Rouge, from said split to Siegen Lane, an underutilized stretch of highway (compared to I-12, itself seeing frequent congestion) that can still prove to be a headache. At only two lanes but servicing a growing commercial area, it's hitting on "underpowered" at times.

The construction should ease things through the area as each direction of I-10 will be widened by one lane. The overall project begins Monday and is slated to take about three years, costing $86.2 million.

Last month, a $100 million contract was signed for widening of part of Interstate 12. That work should begin in February, to widen eastbound I-12 from O'Neal Lane in Baton Rouge to just east of Pete's Highway in Denham Springs, and westbound from just west of 4-H Club Road to the aforementioned O'Neal. That project will last until around Thanksgiving in 2011...

As a result, Baton Rouge's eastern end will be a little trickier to get through for the next couple of years. Two alternative routes, US 61 (Airline Highway) and US 190 (Florida Blvd.) will see a lot more traffic as a result of both I-10 and I-12 seeing work. Seeing as few alternatives exist... good luck.

A few more photos

A trip to Slidell today spawned about 40 or so new photos.

New:
LA 434: Coverage of northbound between I-12 and LA 36, as well as some pictures along the concurrency with US 190 in Lacombe.

Updated:
I-10: Added photos from westbound approaching and of the new Exit 265 interchange with US 190 Business in Slidell.
I-12: Added coverage along westbound approaching and of Exit 74 (LA 434).
US 11: Added a couple of photos of the concurrency in Slidell with LA 433.
US 190: Added coverage eastbound through Lacombe and Slidell, as well as at the intersection with hidden LA 1089. Also, I caught a snap of an idiot parked on the train tracks at the intersection with US 11.
LA 433: Added coverage of westbound and northbound from US 11 to US 190, mostly along the Bayou Liberty Road and Thompson Road segments.
LA 1088: Added a couple of photos of westbound, north of I-12.
Former LA 1093-2: Changed directory name to reflect removal of all signage previously found in August.

More pics. Yay!

To be brief, I've got over 50 new pics to get uploaded and posted everyplace sometime soon. There's a few more shots along LA 1088, LA 59, I-12, US 190, LA 22, West Causeway Approach and LA 1087.

I also managed to get a live snap of possibly the only Parish Route sign left in St. Tammany, a lone Parish Route 24 sign at the eastern terminus of Sharp Road near Mandeville. (This would be analogous to a County Route shield anyplace else in the country.)

More updates as I get them posted... and as I sober up. Wheeee, vodka.

Mini-upd*te and a mini-rant

Just two more album updates tonight... I'll finish up tomorrow.

IH 12 - Pics taken at various points in the highway's St. Tammany Parish routing
The Tammany Trace - Fitting that the largest album I have so far would be of a bike trail. 24 shots in all spanning from Abita Springs to Mandeville.

As per the usual, all snaps are geotagged. No need for "Operation Spam Minor Upd*tes" when you can keep up as you go instead of waiting on it, you know.

Also, Accueil saw a fairly hearty upd*te of its own tonight. Check the Updates page on the site for that info.

-----------------

Two for the price of one! OSTT so far appears to be working well against its initial targets, Calbog and Racist Randy. At the least, inane idiocy doesn't turn into a flamewar of Vietnam-like proportions. (Except in the case of two people who "broke" it earlier tonight on Calbog. Guys, <ostt-break> is still OSTT-breaking!)

Well, apparently, someone liked the concept enough to suggest it at another NG, this time on Poologski. About time. Way to go, Odo. Don't know who you are, but way to go nonetheless.

That said, once Poologski found out, he turned around and proceeded to pitch a bitch in MTR like a child whose favorite toy got burned right in front of their eyes. Someone just call the WAAAAAAAHmbulance already, please.

While OSTT/MTR currently doesn't apply to him, can we please expand it to Poologski? It's only fair, considering how much he likes spamming #roadgeek, then whining about it on MTR.

Great, now they've got me Flickring...

Ok, so I feel lame, and yet not. Maybe sleep would help.

In the meantime, I got a LOT of snaps today, as well as the ones from last week. I'm talking like 120 of them, taken, cropped and fix0rd in one day. They'll go up on my Photobucket and Accueil sometime during the week, but they're on my Flickr right this minute if you need instant gratification. They're mostly placed by sets for the time being.

I'll be adding the older snaps to the Flickr page as time permits as well.

(Sorry. Lotsa tags apply here.)

Observations, on and off the roads

Yesterday, I needed to make a run up to one of Louisiana's remaining "charity hospitals" to get a literal pain in my ass (more like my thigh) treated. What passes for healthcare for the poor and working poor in this state is a disgrace. I got in at about 11 AM. I got out close to 6 PM. One reason was that in a fairly busy emergency room, there was only ONE doctor. Just one, to handle about 35-40 people with varying problems.

Part of this is culture. Since many people in this state don't qualify for Medicaid or Medicare, but don't earn enough to afford or aren't offered (as a job benefit or something) a private plan, they just go to the emergency room for the most minor of ailments. It's been this way since the Dawn of Time around here (as in, since my grandparents were little children, at least). This clogs them up when moderate and major emergencies happen, as must have happened during the day during my wait.

Another part of this is less people going into medical professions. LSU runs the hospital I went to, and it seemed badly short-staffed, especially with only having one doctor in the emergency room during the day.

Cost seems to be at fault on all ends, at least from my viewpoint.

I also noticed a few things about the roads, so don't fret.

• Business US 51 in Hammond is getting a facelift. It looks like they're redoing (or at least smoothing) the concrete surface, and they're replacing the suicide center turn lane with a raised median and "classic" turn lanes.
• I don't think they'll ever put up gates at the railroad tracks for all the minor crossing roads in Tangipahoa Parish. Fine. But could they at least put up STOP SIGNS?! A lot of them are regulated only by yield signs, for crying out loud. As such, I predict many more "train vs. car" articles in the blog, and much more senseless death.
  
• Work is proceeding on Interstate 12 near LA 21 for (unofficial and ESTIMATED) Future Exit 61. When complete, this interchange will serve two functions - it will link to a new shopping center, as well as linking in an auxiliary manner to LA 21. (They tore down a rest area and a fairly decent park for this. Assholes. Seriously. What The F*ck?)
  
• Work is complete on LA 22 in Mandeville. The new configuration is two lanes westbound, a center turning lane and one eastbound lane from the shopping center with the Rouses in it westward to the Beau Chene main entrance. West of there to the Marina entrance, it's two westbound lanes and one eastbound lane.
• The surface of Interstate 55 is horrible for taking snaps. Still, I managed to gut out the pain enough to get a few. Filled my digital camera's memory in the process. Looks like I'll need to snag a SD card. (Or get the camera working with altaria so I can offload them on the fly.)
• Many stoplights in Mandeville were either flashing red/yellow or depowered entirely yesterday, although they seemed to be brought back on line quickly.
  
• US 190 through Old Mandeville has shifted to the future eastbound lanes, as they work now on the future center and westbound lanes. I'm waiting for businesses on the north side of the highway to bitch that customers can't get to them now.

I did take a few pictures while I was out, I just need to make them a little more viewable, then I'll post them online. That'll happen either today or sometime this week.

Edit: Noted in no uncertain terms that the possible exit number for the future exit is estimated and not official. -T

I took another bicycle trip and nearly died. Plus 52 snaps from three different cameras.

Today, I covered around 30 miles on a bicycle, taking snaps of one terminus each of LA 434 and LA 435 and both termini of LA 1088. A few of the LA 434 snaps catch some of the new monochrome shields in the wild. There are many other assorted highway shots along the way, as well as some unexpected railfan snaps from along the Tammany Trace and a few shots of buildings in Abita Springs. There's even one shot of a Clearview street sine in Mandeville.

As well, I almost died traversing LA 36 between LA 1088 and LA 59. And I got rained on. A lot. So you'd better like the snaps. Or I'll hurt you.

Anyway, the snaps are here.

Edit: They're also here if you have an aversion to Photobucket or something.