A crowded Baton Rouge intersection is about to become one of the first in the nation to undergo huge changes modeled after a new design used in Mexico.
The site is the intersection of Airline Highway and Siegen Lane/South Sherwood Forest Boulevard.
The plan is to push back traffic turning left from Airline onto Siegen or South Sherwood Forest by about 300 feet to trim congestion at the intersection.
State officials hope to begin work in two months and finish the $4.4 million project by the end of the year, possibly by Thanksgiving.
Backers contend that, once the work is done, traffic improvements will be dramatic at one of the busiest spots in southeast Baton Rouge.
"Louisiana will be on the cutting edge," said Michael Bruce, principal engineer for ABMB Engineers and one of the top proponents of the switch.
But several longtime small business owners along the southwest part of the site are unhappy.
They sit on Airline just south of the intersection, and contend the project threatens their livelihoods by making it harder for motorists to get to them, especially for traffic traveling north on Airline.
"It is going to kill us," said Tammy Guilliams, secretary-treasurer for Service Glass Works. "It is going to kill all these businesses."
To understand the issue, it helps to visualize the problem.
During the peak travel hour in the morning, nearly 5,700 cars travel the intersection, and it takes an average of nearly three minutes for a vehicle to get through.
It takes nearly four minutes during the afternoon rush period.
Motorists on Airline now approaching the intersection who want to turn left are directed to two lanes. Highway experts say that causes huge traffic backups for cars and trucks in the other two lanes driving through the intersection. The idea is to move the congestion-causing left-turn traffic away from the intersection.
Under the plan, those turning left from Airline onto Siegen or South Sherwood Forest will be stopped at a new light about 300 feet from the intersection. They will enter a left-turn bay. Travelers at that spot will get a green light shortly after those ahead of them on Airline stopped at the intersection take off.
Those motorists will then cross oncoming traffic, which is stopped by a red light, drive up two new travel lanes that parallel Airline and proceed with their left turns through the intersection.
Under the changes, "All the traffic that wants to get through now doesn't have to wait for these left turns," Bruce said. "It is as though these guys (left turners) do not even exist."
Wait times will drop dramatically, engineering studies show. Motorists will spend an average of about 30 seconds to get through the intersection during peak travel times instead of three or four minutes.
The idea is virtually unheard of in the United States. Only two smaller such designs operate in New York state and Maryland. Bruce said the success of about 40 similar intersections in Mexico, some of which he has visited, is why he thinks it will work.
"That is the only reason we have embraced this," he said.
"We do not consider this a test case," Bruce said. "This has been proven. It just has not been fully proven in the U.S."
Bruce's firm is making about $405,000 for its work on the project, said Mark Lambert, spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.
Some nearby business owners are enthusiastic.
"From what it looks like, it will definitely help the flow of traffic," said Craig Rodrigue, owner of Hunter's Pro Shop, which sits along Airline in the northwest corner of the intersection.
But the plan is vehemently opposed by Guilliams and owners of several other businesses that run south along Airline from the southwest corner of the intersection.
Jim Bickley, president of Cracker Barrel of Louisiana, said one of his convenience stores will be devastated.
Bickley said at least 50,000 cars and trucks a day on southbound Airline go by his store, which has been at the site for about 20 years.
"A convenience store survives based on traffic count," he said. "They are just going to cut me off from that traffic."
State officials said a two-way access road is designed to ease problems for those businesses. Bruce said that, for northbound traffic, drivers can get to the Cracker Barrel and other businesses by exiting at the Old Jefferson signal, which will include a "Frontage Road Business Access" sign. Northbound traffic can also make a U-turn near the intersection and proceed south on the access road.
Bickley said he is concerned that southbound traffic on Airline used to stopping at his store will opt not to pass by, leave Airline and return on the access road. He said he recently spent $500,000 on the shop and added an employee training center nearby.
Pleas to a wide range of officials, he said, have fallen on deaf ears. "I got all kinds of letter replies that just basically said too bad, so sad," Bickley said.
Bill Pedneau, owner of Meineke Car Care Center on Airline, said his and other businesses were all but ignored in planning the intersection changes and stand to lose access to traffic on northbound Airline.
"They totally ignore the businesses in the southwest quadrant," Pedneau said. "This was a steamroller from the beginning."
Sen. Jay Dardenne, R-Baton Rouge, whose legislative district includes the area, said he was initially skeptical of the plan. But Dardenne said that, after meetings on the issue during the past 18 months, there is general consensus that the change has merit.
"I was sensitive to the concerns of the businesses and those that are still upset," he said. "But I think every effort was made to alleviate as many concerns as possible.
"This is a major point of contention in the whole traffic flow of southeast Baton Rouge," Dardenne said. "We have got to do something to better the situation."
Traffic tie-ups are not the only problem at the intersection. It had 615 accidents from 1996-2003, including one death and 287 injuries. The accident rate is 5.1 times greater than the average at similar junctures.
Matt McKay, president of All Star Automotive Group, which sits on the northeast corner of the intersection, said state officials believe the change will help.
"Based on the model that I saw, I am assuming they have done their research and it will work," McKay said.
Some information for this story was provided by Mark Ballard of The Advocate's Capitol news bureau.
By Will Sentell
Source: The Advocate