Letter: Fire everyone in Baton Rouge traffic planning

Fire them all! Fire those slick-tongued, dull-minded, shoe-shined elected or task-force nincompoops who sit behind dark, shiny desks twirling little yellow pencils in their pointed lips while they pretend to contemplate our traffic nightmare.

They are breathing scented, filtered air and drinking afternoon tea while I sit frozen in time like a skeleton in a metal cage, smelling stink and rot, with my hair, fingernails, eyes yellowing in thick exhaust smoke. “Black gold” evaporates from my gas tank into an already-overladen cancer cloud that poisons everything it touches.

Fire those who plan the streets, without rhyme or reason, who set green lights to allow only three cars to pass, those who snap traffic cameras to catch the fourth car, those with no contingency or emergency plans, those who display no police presence when frequent trouble happens and those who change concrete construction barricades daily without notice just to make sure I am paying attention. And don’t forget those who build hairpin turns without railings.

Then bless each one of us who, on a daily basis, risk life and limb to climb into an automobile to perhaps run a 10-minute errand which turns into two hours — if I am lucky.

Fire the sorry lot of them who have sentenced Baton Rouge to die a slow, painful death in traffic hell. It is getting worse, daily, it is ongoing and terribly frustrating.

Irene M. Beary

housewife

Baton Rouge

Comments

1) Comment by ScotB - 05/01/2013

The time to prepare a community for greater growth is while it is still small. This required a little forward thinking, not something we have been famous for here in Louisiana. The roads should be built with acquired rights of ways to accomodate future expansions and sidewalks, but most communities acquire the minimum right of ways and have the minimum building restrictions that make it nearly impossible to make improvements later. Finally, the Capital Region Planning Commission has not been fully integrated into other planning mechanisms and operates as a stand alone agency that has very little real impact or guidance on metro transportation planning. Especially when compared to its counterparts in other similarly sized metro areas. This is an important component to effective economic development that has been greatly overlooked until recently, but is reaching the point where it can no longer be ignored. There is a midpoint between where we are now and the over eager opines from the well intentioned at CPEX. It will most probably take leadership from Mayor Holden and Adam Knapp at BRAC to effect real needed change in transportation in Baton Rouge.

2) Comment by phil - 05/01/2013

To balance my actual views here I would like to add this. I think many people could occasionally walk up to about 1/2 mile to go to a store to buy a small item instead of jumping in their cars. However, I also do not think the average person is going to walk much further than that. There are 2 shopping centers close to where I live on the ends of a main road that has ditches and NO sidewalks. If there are going to be any sidewalks built, how about building them where they actually connect people with places they want to go to in a relatively short distance? Then there is also the option for some people to combine trips in a car instead of going to separate stores etc in separate trips. That could help reduce traffic and also reduce the wear and mileage on your car and save you money. That's it for now.

3) Comment by phil - 05/01/2013

Gee, walking and riding bikes are great ideas. Maybe I will go up on the MS River levee and walk to the store or walk around that proposed path along Wards Creek to go grocery shopping, or maybe on that new path downtown. Then I can figure out how to carry 3 or 4 bags of groceries home in the rain or perhaps in 95 degree weather. Sounds like a good thing for the young folks to try. I think the paths to nowhere in BR do little good to help traffic and just cost taxpayers a lot of money. Also have you seen Wards Creek after a good rain? Good place for a kid to drown I think. How about building sidewalks where they are really needed and will be used?? How do you synchronize traffic lights when several major streets intersect? You always will have to stop traffic on one to let traffic pass on the other. Then the solution seems to be for someone to sit in a room and actually monitor the traffic and control the traffic lights. Do you realize how much that costs in taxpayer funds? I agree with the title of the letter, and think someone needs to figure out solutions instead of making large salaries to sit around and figure out new and creative ways to spend our tax dollars.

4) Comment by madbiker - 03/01/2013

I will do my part to relieve congestion. I retire tomorrow.

5) Comment by The_Host - 03/01/2013

Irene relax some places are worse. Sure the traffic can be bad here and sure they didn't think to far ahead but this is BR what were you expecting? I must ask being that Irene is a housewife what is her hurry? Wait for low traffic times while the rest of us are at work to go places. We'll thank you for getting off the crowded roads while we are trying to go to work :)

6) Comment by 8point6 - 03/01/2013

Wow! Sounds like Irene is not a happy camper.

7) Comment by DMJ - 03/01/2013

Agreed, don w. Most car trips are less than 2 miles. The only real way to reduce traffic is to reduce driving.

8) Comment by DMJ - 03/01/2013

It's not (necessarily) the current employees' fault. The traffic problems are due to a lack of planning in the 1970s and '80s (and more recently, after the post-Katrina influx). Developers, aided and abetted by the predecessors of the people Mrs. Beary wants fired, basically did whatever they wanted. Short-term gain for big bucks and by the time such poor planning becomes a serious problem (now), it's someone else's problem. Wanna fire those responsible? You'll need a time machine. Also, traffic light synchronization was part of the bond deal that voters killed a couple of years ago. So that didn't help.

9) Comment by don_w - 03/01/2013

I have commented many times in the past about the primitive state of traffic planning in this city. Irene tells us nothing new here, and I certainly agree changes are in order. But Irene also points to a big part of the problem most people here don't want to admit; why do we immediately jump into a car to run a 10 minute errand? Since the vast majority of car trips are less than a couple of miles, think how many less cars would be on the road if we would, or could, walk or ride a bicycle safely to our destination. Great cities offer their citizens various alternatives for transportation. With our current lack of foresight, we'll be stuck in the slow lane for years to come. I know people like Phil will bemoan the cost of sidewalks and bike paths, but I still say it's a lot cheaper than adding more lanes to already crowded streets. More lanes just encourage more senseless short drives, and therein lies the real problem.

10) Comment by Being_Stupid - 03/01/2013

We need more connectivity through Irene's neighborhood.

11) Comment by DMJ - 03/01/2013

At least the people at DOTD have jobs, Irene.

12) Comment by phil - 03/01/2013

Interesting letter and I think we might should start by firing the entire group who is still running the project and doing design work on the loop even though 3 parishes are out of the project and it is basically a dead project now. Follow the money ! Then we have the same traffic engineering all over where a 2 lane is upgraded to a 4 or 5 lane and then traffic lights are added every 1/4 mile so traffic basically moves just as slow as it always did. Then they have to synchronize the traffic lights which adds even more expense. Then they also add traffic cameras to collect more and more fines. Why improve traffic? I am beginning to think the main objective in BR is to make some companies rich and to increase fines resulting from all of those new traffic cameras at all of those new traffic signals. Then we can also discuss making existing 4 lane roads into 3 lane roads to improve traffic flow etc. Sounds to me like we are going backwards on some of the traffic planning

13) Comment by RALLEN - 03/01/2013

More appropriately, they should be condemmed to driving in rush hour traffic every day with windows down and no A/C or heat. a week should be enough for even these with no vision.

14) Comment by jdk944 - 03/01/2013

Well said Mrs. Beary. I would add the additional frustration of seeing new traffic lights placed at new road intersections around the city and yet they STILL are on a timer!!! WHAT??

15) Comment by [e-mail] - 03/01/2013

Ms. Irene has a point, but she left out the horrors of I-10. For the last thirty years or more the traffic planners have had us in extremis with the promise that once the current work is complete traffic will flow wonderfully.

16) Comment by Chucky - 03/01/2013

Have no fear CATS is here ! Once they are up and running things will be better or so 'they' say , you know the ones that asked we pass the tax.

17) Comment by lovemykids - 03/01/2013

Irene, ever thought of writing detective novels or horror stories?