Stumberg, Pecue projects complete
By REBEKAH ALLEN
Advocate staff writer
July 28, 2012
The city-parish has completed work on its 27th Green Light Plan project — straightening the intersection of Pecue Lane at Airline Highway and paving the first phase of the Stumberg Lane extension to provide access to the new Woman’s Hospital.
The $6.3 million construction work finished on schedule this month after 10 months, Public Works officials said.
Green Light Plan projects are financed by a voter-approved, half-cent sales tax for road projects to alleviate traffic congestion parishwide.
The construction removed a dangerous S curve from Pecue Lane and built out the entrance way to the Woman’s Hospital on Stumberg Lane and the Airline Highway intersection, complete with a two-lane roundabout.
Councilman Joel Boé said he was glad the “hard S curve” had been realigned.
“From a safety perspective, that was a very dangerous curve,” he said.
The project’s second phase, expected to be put out for bid in September, will extend Stumberg Lane from Jefferson Highway to Airline Highway, providing another access point to the new hospital.
“We’ll open our doors (on Aug. 5) for the Woman’s Hospital, a new landmark in Baton Rouge for many of the special events in the lives of hundreds of thousands of families,” said Stan Shelton, hospital senior vice president for new campus development.
“This extension and this roundabout is the gateway for those experiences.”
Shelton applauded the project as a successful example of a public-private partnership.
He said the city-parish had plans to extend Stumberg Lane before the campus construction had begun, but after hospital officials contacted the city-parish the two entities were able to align their goals.
“We co-designed the road to meet our project need as well as the city’s traffic needs,” Shelton said.
The construction work also provided new traffic signalization at the Airline Highway and Pecue Lane intersection and sewer upgrades in coordination with the parish-wide Sanitary Sewer Overflow program.
Six-foot sidewalks were also built on both sides of the four-lane roadway.
“The Stumberg Lane Extension will form the foundation of a key artery for motorists to travel quickly and safely to their destination along with providing a key access point for the new Woman’s Hospital, where quick and safe travel is paramount,” Holden said.
The Green Light Plan was approved by voters in 2005 and is the first road bond program of its kind since 1964.
“We’ve completed 27 projects in less than five years,” Public Works Director William Daniel said.
“That’s an incredible accomplishment, and one that everyone in this parish should be proud of.”