University Hills Civic Association

News

Sharrows

Sharrows aimed at making roads safer
August 13, 2009
New symbols raise public awareness about bicycles
Hundreds of “sharrows,” or shared-lane pavement markings, are popping up on East Baton Rouge streets to remind motorists that they are supposed to be sharing the road with bicyclists.
In all, nearly 20 miles of “shared roads” will be marked with new bike-chevron symbols as part of the bike path component of Mayor Melvin “Kip” Holden’s Healthy BR Initiative.
Chief Traffic Engineer Ingolf Partenheimer said that city-parish workers are in the process of painting 643 sharrows on those routes, and are installing 439 above-ground signs that show a bicycle symbol with a reminder to “share the road.”
Plans call for the painted symbols to be reinforced with thermal plastic tape that will be more visible than the paint now in use, and will last from five to seven years, Partenheimer said.
Partenheimer said the sharrows program is a public awareness campaign aimed at educating motorists and bicyclists how to safely co-exist on the same routes.
Some bicyclists complain that passing motorists curse them and even throw things at them because they don’t think they should be using the roads, Partenheimer said.
“We trying to educate motorists that bikes do have the right to use those roads,” Partenheimer said. “At the same time, we want to educate bikers about their responsibilities.”
Biking enthusiasts are supposed to follow the same rules of the road as motorists, but it’s not unusual to see some of them riding on the wrong side of the road or running red lights.
To protect bikers, the Louisiana Legislature recently passed a new state law that makes it illegal for a motorist to pass within three feet of a bicyclist.
Most of the designated shared routes connect existing bike paths with each other and other popular destinations, Partenheimer said.
For example, the recently created bike lanes on each side of Capital Heights Avenue run from Jefferson Highway to Acadian Thruway. Under the new program, shared-lanes will be designated on Acadian to North Street. Bicyclists can use the route to get to North Boulevard, another shared-lane roadway that runs all the way to Mississippi River downtown.
Another shared-lane roadway connects Capital Heights Avenue with Glenmore Avenue, a combination of bike path and shared-lane street that can take bicyclists into Valley Park. From there, bikers can follow shared-lane routes across the overpass that crosses Interstate 10 to Perkins Road and the Southdowns area near LSU.
For a list of sharrows, see this list.
Source: news release from Baton Rouge Mayor's Office

Phase One Improvements to Milford Wampold Memorial Park Formerly Known as Baton Rouge Beach and Stanford Avenue Park Completed
The Phase One improvements to Milford Wampold Memorial Park, formerly known as Stanford Avenue Park and Baton Rouge Beach have been completed. BREC broke ground for Phase One Improvements on July 17, 2008. Phase One Improvements include a new asphalt parking lot, reconfigured to provide more green space in the park, a new pedestrian bridge, and a new exercise station. The new exercise station was made possible by a donation from the Neighborhood Wal-Mart on Highland Road. All amenities will be ADA compliant including new sidewalks, benches and a new water fountain. Located at 901 Stanford Avenue, Milford Wampold Memorial Park is a favorite among many joggers and walkers in our community.
The improvements, valued at $160,000, include expansion of the parking lot and construction of a small pedestrian-bicycle bridge at the south end of the park. Phase One improvements are shown above. (Click on each rendering for a larger image.)
A second phase of improvements (above), not included in the $160,000, calls for dredging the lakes using some of the dredged soil to expand the beach.
Under terms of a new 20-year lease with LSU to continue to operate Baton Rouge Beach, BREC will not be charged rent as long as it makes promised improvements to the park on LSU Lakes.
The lakes are currently very shallow, an average of 2.5 feet deep, with some pockets up to six feet deep. The Corps would like to get them to an average depth of five feet. To do that, parts of the lake system would be deepened to eight feet, requiring the removal of about a million cubic yards of material.
The method for deepening the shallow lakes has not yet been determined. The project could cost between $7 million and $50 million, depending on the method chosen. According to Jason P. Soileau, Assistant Director of Physical Plant/Facility Services, unless something is done, the lakes will become progressively shallower, eventually reverting back to a swamp. He says, "The Lakes were partially dredged from 1979-1981; however, due to the unforeseen cypress stumps, they were limited in the amount of dredging that occurred. To date, sediment has built back up to the pre-dredge levels."
Even now, during the heat of the summer, the lack of oxygen in the shallow water threatens aquatic life in the lakes. Mark Wingate, corps senior project manager, explained at a recent meeting: "Shallow water gets hotter more quickly and the warmer water can’t hold as much dissolved oxygen. Low levels of oxygen in the lake can lead to fish kills."
According to an Army Corps of Engineers Web site:
The Lakes District System consists of seven urban lakes ranging in size from 3 to 195 acres with approximately 300 acres in total. The man-made lakes were formed in the 1930’s when cypress swamps were timbered and dammed. Expansion of residential development and the LSU campus surrounding the lakes led to the rapid development of infrastructure and drainage systems, which further subdivided the original lake into its present configuration of seven lakes. The aquatic ecosystem has undergone hydrologic modifications in past years due to unintentional (community development and expansion) human intervention. These activities and others have resulted in limited freshwater inflow and circulation, eutrophication*, sewage infiltration, stagnation, limited exchange of nutrients, sedimentation, collapsing drainage infrastructure, retreating bank edges, lack of depth and other factors that limit the performance and health of the aquatic ecosystem.
LSU and Corps are working on a plan to deepen the lakes to permanently fix the problem. One plan calls for the lakes to be drained and deepened using earth-moving equipment; the other would be to dredge the lake using a barge. If the lakes were drained, the deepening would take about a year and be less expensive ($7 million to $15 million) than dredging (and earth-moving would allow for easier removal of stumps that hindered work in 1978-81). Dredging from a barge could take two years and cost between $35 million and $50 million. Regardless of the method chosen, it would be up to the state legislature to appropriate funds for the state's share (35% of the total cost of the project). Once the project is completed, the Corps usually turns it over to the state for operation, maintenance, and repair.
(For more information, see: the Corps website.)
In addition to the work on the beach, the city-parish has also started a $105,000 roadwork project on Stanford Avenue and will eventual construct a median to run from nearly West Lakeshore Drive to South Lakeshore Drive. The median is intended to slow traffic in the area of the beach park and is a pilot project for the proposed city-parish Traffic Calming Program to reduce speeding through residential neighborhoods.
Developer Mike Wampold who is building a 165-unit condominium across from the park is constructing a new signaled crosswalk on Stanford Avenue near the middle of the park's frontage on Stanford. This will provide residents of his Crescent condominium and residents of University Hills and College Town with a safe way to cross the busy thoroughfare by bike or by foot.
* In case you were wondering, eutrophication, according to WordNet 3.0, means excessive nutrients in a lake or other body of water, usually caused by runoff of nutrients (animal waste, fertilizers, sewage) from the land, which causes a dense growth of plant life; the decomposition of the plants depletes the supply of oxygen, leading to the death of animal life.

BR Loop Community Information Site

The Baton Rouge Loop is a major road project to address traffic congestion in this region (Ascension, East Baton Rouge, Iberville, Livingston and West Baton Rouge Parishes). The Baton Rouge Loop Implementation Plan is open to the public and the public is encouraged to participate as much as possible. You can follow this project as it moves forward and give your feedback on its new official Web site: BRLoop.com.

Of special interest to this subdivision, one proposed route which would have brought a branch of the loop along Nicholson Drive from the south and then west of the LSU campus into downtown where it would cross the river near the I-10 bridge has now been eliminated.

East Baton Rouge Parish is funding the development of an Implementation Plan for a traffic loop. From May 2007 through May 2008, a team of industry leaders chosen by the East Baton Rouge Engineer Selection Board will determine, among other things, the Loop corridor and financing models for construction.

The process will be managed by the Loop Executive Committee, which consists of the Parish Presidents of Ascension, East Baton Rouge, Iberville, Livingston, and West Baton Rouge Parishes.

According to the Web site: "Traditional financing sources for transportation projects, the state and federal gas taxes, have been unable to keep up with transportation demands, a common national trend for large highway projects. In communities such as Baton Rouge, which has a high growth rate and ever-increasing traffic congestion, the need is critical for new financing models.

"East Baton Rouge and surrounding parish leaders recognize this situation and are exploring new models of finance, including tollways."

Connect-CTY

The Connect-CTY service allows authorized civic leaders to create and rapidly disseminate time-sensitive messages to every telephone number stored in the notification database. With the Connect-CTY service, authorized users can send thousands of messages in minutes. Only authorized officials are allowed access to the system.

Any message regarding the safety or welfare of our community would be disseminated using the Connect-CTY service. Examples would include severe weather warnings and updates, hazardous traffic or road conditions inside the town or affecting local routes, and any other situation that could impact the safety, property, or welfare of our citizens.

To learn more and sign up, click here.

Capital Area Pathways Project

The Capital Area Pathways Project will identify routes for biking and walking trails and greenways and build a network of these paths throughout East Baton Rouge and surrounding Parishes. BREC says that trails were the most requested improvement during public meetings that preceded the development of BREC’s strategic plan.

On September 5, 2007, Ed McBrayer, from the Atlanta Path Foundation, spoke at a CAPP presentation at BREC's Administration Ballroom, 6201 Florida Boulevard. McBrayer has built a nationally-renowned model for spearheading bike trails via partnerships with local governments utilizing state and federal funds, building capital campaigns, and facilitating right-of-way acquisition. Atlanta's pathway program began in 1991. Its goal was to create "a network of off-road trails in and around Atlanta for walkers, runners, cyclists and skaters. A series of scenic greenways to preserve our region’s forested character and offer opportunities for families to enjoy nature together. A way to connect neighborhoods to each other, to get people out of their cars, to encourage healthier lifestyles and to improve our quality of life."

According to the Atlanta Path Foundation's Web site (http://www.pathfoundation.org), its trails are used by a larger percentage of the community and require less long-term maintenance than ballfields, tennis courts or other park facilities. In addition to preserving greenspace and providing alternative modes of transportation, trails also:

Encourage health and well-being
Whether trail users are walking, riding, skating or rollerblading, they are on their way to a healthier lifestyle.

Promote public safety
Thousands of people use PATH trails from dawn to dusk every day. When more people are outside and keeping an eye on their neighborhoods, perpetrators are less likely to attempt to commit crimes.

Increase real estate values
Living next to a greenway trail is a distinctive amenity that boosts property values. Trails preserve open space and make nearby homes more attractive.

Spur economic development and neighborhood revitalization
PATH trails are an important catalyst for new residential and business development in the communities through which they traverse.

Kristi Williams

kwilliams@brec.org

If you have a news item of neighborhood interest, please send it to us or suggest a story at news@universityhills70808.net.