MRT in LA. Getting Extended

Paved New Orleans To Baton Rouge Trail Gets Closer
by Larry Lagarde

In my recent Earth Day Musings post, one important Louisiana trail extension I failed to mention is is on the Mississippi River Levee Trail near the LSU campus in Baton Rouge. Senator Mary Landrieu secured a $1 million earmark to build out another 1.5 miles of this trail.

Eventually, there will be a paved bike trail running from Baton Rouge all the way to New Orleans; the completion of this segment will bring that reality just a bit closer.

By the way, I asked Bruce Wickert (a cyclist that has long worked to improve cycling in Baton Rouge) for his take on the $1 million price tag for the segment. Here's his response:

The design basis is not as extravagant as the first 2 miles, but not plain either. Design will be to a maximum width without excavation, (ASSHTO green book 10 or 12 ft). It may include a trailhead with bathrooms and parking at Farr park (if not included in previous enhancement funding held by BREC) , and a connector trail to Brightside. It includes the features needed by more heavily used trail populated by joggers, rollerbladers, and walkers in addition to bikers that frequent the trails near urban areas.

This is more than 8 ft of asphalt on the levee of the Audubon Park to Ormond (Destrehan) trail.

Hopefully the features included in the expansive miles to be included in the USACE (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) feasibility study can be scaled down closer to the 8 ft design for cost, and build up only near the cities (Gramercy, Reserve, LaPlace, Norco). Alternately, if we can find earmarks and or community support, I see no problem with the enhancements to incorporate build the high $/mile.

Frankly, I'd be overjoyed with a paved trail from NOLA to BR on the Mississippi River levee crown regardless of width. In all likelihood, this would be the ONLY non-motorized, long distance trail coming into or out of New Orleans. It would link Louisiana's 2 most important metro areas (sorry Lake Charles, Lafayette, Alexandria & Shreveport) and would even tie into Adventure Cycling's Southern Tier route (via the Baton Rouge spur).

For more about this trail extension, read the Advocate story "Landrieu gets BR bike path $1 million."