So, how will they fund I-49 South?

The Advocate (Acadiana Bureau) - I-49 task force debates funding

It's about time people started to try to figure out how to fund the thing, you know. So far, it's looking like tolls could be on the table. (Gack.) Obviously, there's also a need to obtain more support from the Legislature and Congress, to push the corridor as more of a priority.

First things first - tolls won't work. Ever. Not in Acadiana. The traffic volumes might be worth an Interstate, but they'll never support a toll road, especially in a part of the state that has none currently. The locals and the sugarcane farmers hate the idea of tolls. Tolling would be a non-starter. They could exempt some traffic from the tolls, but then that defeats the purpose of tolling the thing in the first place... especially if they exempt agricultural vehicles.

Still, they're considering multiple options. Good for them - you can't count on anything as a sole way to fund a project as huge as the I-49 southern extension.

Another option floated by the task force would be special tax districts along the corridor and an extra tax on gasoline along the route. I see many potholes in that approach. The most significant is that the "special tax district" would have to be statewide, otherwise people would start to dodge it by fueling in jurisdictions outside the tax district. I know I would. I don't know about you, but I can make it from Lafayette to New Orleans via the current US 90 corridor on about half a tank, and that's in an early 90's midsize Buick. My Civic could make the trip on less. That means I can gas up in Lake Charles, Alexandria, Baton Rouge or Slidell and dodge fueling on the corridor entirely. (Either that, or I could take I-10.)

Oops, I said that out loud. That's another problem with any usage- or consumption-based tax along the corridor, that being that I-10 is shorter, and in conjunction with I-12 is shorter still. With many tollways, you can get traffic that is simply aiming to go through the tolled route as well as the traffic that has to actually go somewhere along the toll road, and the other options suck as far as traffic or expediency goes. (See: Pennsylvania Turnpike.) The fact that Future I-49 is already bypassed by a superior routing for traffic bound for points east and west means that you don't get that traffic that would be going to/from, say, Houston or Biloxi (unless they originate/end locally), and therefore you can't get toll money from them.

And even then, there's a (State) Constitutional ban that stops local entities from levying a gasoline tax. It'd take legislative action to override that problem, and the Legislature's never liked local-option gas taxes. That sure as hell ain't changing with Guv'nuh Bobby "No Taxes EVAR!!1" Jindal pulling the strings.

These are all inventive options, mind you, but the old standby is still out there: state and federal funding. It's how we normally make Interstates around here. The only problem with that option currently is that the state is damn near broke, considering all the cuts the Governor is saying we need to make to state programs. The Feds ain't in much better shape, multiple stimuli and bailouts on demand aside.

All that said, work is still proceeding slowly along the corridor. Several overpasses built in St. Mary and Iberia Parishes over the past decade are bringing the corridor closer to Interstate standards. An overpass is currently being built at LA 675 in Iberia Parish, and stim funding is paying for an interchange to be built elsewhere in Iberia. The governor's proposed putting about $10 million in the budget for another overpass in St. Mary. These areas aren't the real hangup - the real hangup that I've seen so far from traveling the highway would be the area from Raceland east to about Marrero, covering Des Allemands, Paradis, Boutte and other places along that routing. Some of it is so cramped, bypassing part of the route may be inevitable - which will definitely make the state coffers bleed as a lot of it would need to be elevated.

In all, progress is slow on the Future Interstate. It's going to take time. Middle ground must be found - not only a source of funding, but a good source of funding that will fit the circumstances of the routing itself.

Show me a surplus and I'll show you lobbyists with their hands out.

The Advocate - I-49 advocates ask for funds

I went into the surplus in one of yesterday's posts. As I noted there, the people behind TIMED are looking at the possibility of tapping into an expected $865 million state surplus next year. Well, they'd better do it soon, because another group is proposing using some of it to work on the southern I-49 extension (a.k.a. That Highway That Should Be Designated Interstate Six!).

The I-49 South Coalition, dormant for years, is poised not only to lobby for some of the state surplus, but also to try to get some place in next year's federal transportation bill. Even then it'd be a drop in the bucket; several billion is still needed to bring the route (currently designated as US 90) up to Interstate standards, including about $700 million for an elevated connector through Lafayette itself and upwards of $4 billion possibly needed for the section between Bayou Lafourche and New Orleans.

According to them, however, drops in the bucket can help. $25 million could build an overpass, they say, and that's about what they say they're looking for - enough for one or more overpasses. (Memo to them... interchanges help too!)

...This seems oddly familiar... ah, well. I guess the chance to get ahold of some piece of nearly a billion dollars will attract everyone, especially in an economic downturn.

Just expect more of these as next year rapidly approaches... and expect them to spend like there's going to be another surplus. Which there probably won't...

TIMED is BROKE!

Times-Picayune - Portion of gas tax may pad program

Since 1989, Louisiana has had the TIMED program, a set of vitally-needed highway and bridge projects, funded by 4 cents of the gasoline tax (out of the total 20-cent tax). Some are done already, and others are in progress. (As in "shovels have been turned" or "lanes have been closed".)

However, two major projects remain on the TIMED list... a new bridge crossing in New Orleans along Florida Avenue... and this thing:

...Lemme tell you, since TIMED passed, this thing has been held up for one reason or another. For a long time, it was due to environmental impact. Lately, it's been because nobody can decide on a concrete routing. Now TIMED is broke because people aren't driving. Go figure. Of course, if people can't afford gas, they don't drive, which means they don't fill their tanks and less gas is sold. Louisiana's gas tax is static - they charge the same tax rate whether a gallon of gas costs forty cents or four dollars. It doesn't help that the cost of upgrading the Huey Long Bridge in Jefferson Parish is running way over projections due to a general increase in cost for, oh, everything since Katrina hit.

There's also the matter of the federal highway trust fund possibly being cut by $200 million or so due to a new formula for funding being considered by federal officials.

Anyway, the Wise Ones in Baton Rouge are figuring they can funnel another 3 cents from the gas tax to get these last few TIMED projects done. There's some other voodoo economics they're looking into, such as using money collected from the vehicle sales tax to go into roads, and possibly getting their hands on some of the surplus as well. There's also the possibility of taking $50 million from employee benefits. (I got a better idea... take some of it from the higher-ups' salaries!) They've already cut close to 400 jobs to try to save money as it is, so you know the belts are getting very tight up there.

TIMED's problems are only a drop in the bucket compared to the state's transportation woes as a whole. $14 billion construction backlog, you say? Yeah, you heard me right. I'll say this much... they're going to need some more potent voodoo for the books than what they're doing/proposing/imagining if they want to finish getting any of these projects done.

And they need to get done soon... 20 years is too long to wait, and we're still waiting.

I saw something interesting today...

Apparently there's a "Proposed LA 3114" in the DOTD's Urbanized Functional Classification map for the Mandeville/Covington area.

The proposed routing is from the intersection of US 190 and LA 25 in Covington east (as if US 190's E/W portion continued east from the intersection) to LA 437, then further east to LA 21 between its intersections with LA 36 and LA 1082. According to the legend, it would be considered a "Minor Arterial." Future LA 3241, by contrast, is anticipated to be a "Principal Arterial."

I could see some point to this connection. Right now, if you're coming from Hammond/Robert/Goodbee on US 190 and you want to head northeast towards Bogalusa (or going the other way, in which case take the directions in reverse), you have a few bad options:

1. Turn north on LA 25, go to Folsom and turn east on LA 40. Although LA 25 is in good shape up to Folsom, LA 40 tends to be in not-as-good condition. It also adds a bunch of unnecessary miles.
2. Turn south on US 190, then either cut through Downtown Covington on Spur LA 437 and LA 437, then turn east (Northbound by signage) on LA 21 OR stay on US 190, cross the Bogue Falaya Bridge, turn west on Business US 190, then turn north on LA 21. Both of these options add not only mileage, but traffic to the situation.

Looking at the map, it appears therefore that the purpose of the proposed route would be as a northern high-speed bypass of Covington, with easier access as a bonus. Wonder why they haven't tried to build it yet...

In the same map and the Slidell/Lacombe one, there's a more clear-cut routing for Future LA 3241 depicted. It appears that if it cosigns with LA 1088 at all, the concurrency would only run a mile or so.

Also, a couple of interesting errors:

• LA 36 between Abita Springs and Covington is misprinted as "LA 35"
• Proposed LA 3241 is reflected properly on the Mandeville/Covington map, but printed as "Proposed LA 324" on the Slidell map.

I can tell I'm going to have a good bit of reading to do...

Indiana: Protests mar ribbon-cutting for I-69 extension

AP (via Indianapolis Star) - Protests, celebration frame I-69 work

Since, eventually (read: most likely not within my lifetime), I-69 is supposed to run through Louisiana, I've looked at the entirety of the progress needed for the route. Surprise, surprise. Anti-freeway forces have been responsible for holding it up a lot just within Indiana. Not just on the extension going on now, but on the proposed (and abandoned) in-city routing of the existing route as well. So right now it ends at a 3di. What a disgrace. (Only the ending at a 3di part, though. They could have routed it along part of the I-465 loop (as they did with I-74) to end at another 2di, I-70.)

...Anyway.

"Police officers arrested more than a dozen protesters Monday as they blocked the entrance to an asphalt plant that will supply materials to build the 142-mile highway linking Evansville and Indianapolis. The protesters, who will be charged with trespassing and resisting arrest, had bound themselves with chains, police said."

The anti-freeway movement is alive and well in Indiana, but we all knew that, right? However, you'd think Mississippi's DOT was running this project, because at this point it is going to go through even with vehement opposition. Even with the environmental impact, a judge has said that those impacts don't constitute a violation of law. In essence, a big fat "Nothing you can do, bugger off already" to the opposition.

As a result, the project will be starting soon, and the stretch that I figured would be one of the last to get done will instead be getting off the ground very soon.

Ah, the hopelessness-inspiring inevitability of it all...

News on Interstate 69 Louisiana Segment

(Note: I did NOT steal the shield picture from AARoads, I just learned how to use lighting effects in the GIMP to replicate their effect.)

Shreveport Times: Louisiana route narrowed but cloudy

So, the announcement that Texas is going to use existing highways for IH 69 does kind of affect where it's going to run through Louisiana, or if it's going to run through the state at all. Right now, the strongest possibility is that it's going to run along US 59 in Texas, up to the junction with US 84 and US 96 in Teneha, and from there east to Logansport generally along US 84, running into Louisiana and angling northeast toward Arkansas along entirely new roads.

Another idea takes IH 69 from Teneha north along US 59 all the way to IH 30 near Texarkana, bypassing Louisiana entirely. In my opinion, this is the bad idea.

Some plans have the TTC (Trans-Texas Corridor) still in the works, just in a different form, using US 59 northward from Teneha as IH 69 takes the path to the east. I have no opinion on this, other than that IH 69 needs to come into Louisiana. Northern Louisiana badly needs the development another Interstate would bring.

Rant: I-49 South Extension

I have a gripe with this. Specifically, the southern extension from Lafayette to New Orleans. I don't disagree with the need for the upgrade of US 90 between those two points to Interstate standards - those parts of Southern Louisiana are languishing, in part due to being so far away from an Interstate. No... I disagree with the number for it.

Extending I-49 south and east along that route would create a numbering violation, since I-49's "southern" terminus would be east of I-55. Also, it would be confusing, direction-wise. I-49 northbound would start by traveling SOUTH! If they tried a Michigan solution (something like I-69 going from signed N-S to signed W-E), then the exit numbering would go backwards, increasing as you go west.

I don't take credit for the number it should be, but I do take credit for the sine.

My solution?



There's some good reasons why I-49's southern extension should be I-6. First off, it would fit nicely in the grid. It would exist wholly south of I-10. Latitude-wise, it would exist between I-8 and I-4. The small jog back westbound (assuming US 90 Business (Westbank/NO)/I-910 was used) would be nowhere near as confusing as the long southwesterly jog down to Houma and Morgan City before taking a northerly slant to Lafayette. The exit numbering could then run in a conventional direction, from west terminus to east terminus. As well, there is precedent for two Interstates in Louisiana sharing a terminus. I-12 and I-59 share a common terminus in Slidell. So too could I-49 and I-6. The fact that the two Interstates would be on the mainline going north-south through the cloverleaf that is I-49's current southern terminus means one wouldn't have to weave to "stay on the Interstate."

So in conclusion, down with I-49 South. Long live Interstate 6!

Port Vincent NIMBYs speak out about proposed BR loop

From WBRZ-TV - Port Vincent Residents Speak Out (Video)

...Let me get this straight. The loop is badly needed at this stage. Traffic counts in Metro Baton Rouge along the I-10 (from Milepost 159 west to the river) and I-12 (out to and beyond the Livingston Parish line) are insane, and the companion US Route(s) aren't any better an alternative. The latest proposal for the Port Vincent area (east of BR) is a bypass of the town, meant to impact as few homes as possible, and they still want to pull the NIMBY crap?

I've driven through Baton Rouge many times, both on the I-10/12 main drag, and on the US 61/190 Bypass (Airline Highway). It is PATHETIC. If there's even a hint of daylight, good luck getting through there in any sort of decent time. The traffic sometimes makes New Orleans look like a niche rural destination. The loop would make life easier for a lot of travelers, and for those who actually have to drive through the city center.

Instead, they're worried about trash. Trash! Come on, that's a pathetic reason. The bypass is needed as bad as a six-laning of I-12 for its entire duration.