While I’m obviously a firm supporter of a diversified transportation
system and feel like the interstate funding has far superseded anything beyond
(what I thought) taxpayer reality; I don’t discount interstate development at
all. It is an important backbone to our economy. That’s why I fully support the
I-49 extension between Baton Rouge and New Orleans (currently I-90). I mean,
this should have been the actual route of I-10 because it includes much of Louisiana’s
coastal infrastructure. So I see I-49 as a fairly critical link in Louisiana
infrastructure. Thus, Lafayette is dealing with the bypass/inner-city freeway predicament.
Which is better?
On one hand, no one has dealt with an inner city freeway
very well. Some places try to make parks under or above, some places try to
bury the entire length, and some places just don’t care. There isn’t one place
in this country where people “enjoy” living near the interstate. All other transportation
infrastructure doesn’t really bother residents. Boulevards, Riverways, rail
tracks, elevated transit, bike paths, etc. But the constant hum of the freeway
is almost imposable. In addition (when above ground) it creates a nasty divide no
matter which neighborhood it’s located in (upper/middle/lower class). There are
some examples of minor mitigation, but I don’t know of any citywide efforts.
This has started a national trend of highway removal in
urban areas (starting with San Francisco then Boston, and now a slew of other
cities). But in our day and age, limited access freeways have to go somewhere.
There are some great case studies of surface streets handling mass amounts of
traffic, but it would be almost impossible to rid of the “interstate” culture.
So where do you direct the traffic? To a
bypass/loop/beltway? Time and time again, this has been proven hugely ineffective
for urban development. Yes it moves traffic (just) OK, but it also relocates
entire sections of the city. Zoning laws and limited access can prevent some of
these things. But it still draws away from economic development because people
will chose to bypass the city for their destination.
So Lafayette is kind of caught in the middle. Do you
mitigate the inner-city freeway? Do you do they bypass the city? Do they try a
boulevard pilot project that deviates from Federal Interstate standards?
Honestly, Acadian Thruway functions really well. But a bypass might take too
much away from economic development inside the city (while also being hugely
expensive).
At least Lafayette is being creative; down the road, Baton
Rouge has (not) decided to build a multi-hundred (maybe billion) dollar loop. At
the end of the day, it’s completely infeasible, and not one study shows how
this will assist in traffic, economic development, etc. (Yes, it will be nice
that one time traffic sucks so a driver can take the bypass; but is that really
worth a billion dollars?)