Two days before East Baton Rouge Parish residents are set to consider Mayor Sharon Weston Broome’s MovEBR road tax, the Baton Rouge Area Chamber released a portion of its annual survey of the business community this morning to highlight its endorsement of the tax proposal.
For the third straight year, survey respondents say traffic is the top obstacle hindering business growth in the Capital Region, according to the BRAC’s 2019 Economic Outlook report, which will be fully released on Dec. 13.
“East Baton Rouge has the opportunity on Saturday to vote for MovEBR, a potentially transformative initiative aimed directly at addressing this problem,” says BRAC President and CEO Adam Knapp in a prepared statement.
Along with CRISIS, a business coalition created to fight traffic, BRAC initially endorsed MovEBR in September.
From a list of more than 10 quality of life and business growth items, traffic congestion remains pinned at the top of the business community’s concerns, according to BRAC, which began producing the annual economic outlook in 2007.
Earlier this week, the Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance also announced its support of MovEBR tax, saying in a prepared statement that the alliance believes infrastructure improvement is critical to the community’s economic growth.
“Current traffic issues create problems within the industrial workforce as workers and shipment deliveries must factor time in traffic for regular commutes,” the alliance in the statement. “Plants had to adjust shift schedules in order to combat issues with peak traffic times.”
