The Capital Region’s industrial corridors have long had traffic issues. But Tom Yura, who oversees BASF’s Geismar plant, says the congestion has gotten noticeably worse over the past couple years.
What might once have been a half-hour commute has doubled for some of his plant’s workers. That leads to more aggressive driving, he says, and employees who show up to work frustrated by the traffic are unlikely to be at their most productive.
As cheap natural gas drives industry expansion, industry and government leaders have spent a lot of time, effort and money training workers to meet the demand. But having skilled workers doesn’t do much good if they can’t get to the job.
“Industry in the past was like, ‘Well, the state needs to resolve it,’” Yura tells 10/12 Industry Report in a feature from the spring issue. “We have to take a more active role.”
And that is beginning to happen. Industry, business chambers, planners and governments are coming together to talk about how they can work together to address the Capital Region’s transportation woes.
While a few short-term measures already are being implemented, everyone involved says significant structural changes are necessary to create transportation planning that is proactive and sustainable. But what that new system will look like, and how it will be paid for, is anyone’s guess right now.
Connie Fabré, who directs the Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance, says members complained to her about transportation issues in the fall of 2013.
“They were starting to see that long worker commutes were affecting their ability to attract a qualified workforce,” she says.
Those conversations led to recent formation of CRISIS—or the Capital Region Industry for Sustainable Infrastructure Solutions—which will work to coordinate efforts to achieve short-term to long-term goals to help alleviate traffic congestion and ensure future transportation infrastructure sustainability. The coalition has been formed by GBRIA, the Center for Planning Excellence and the Baton Rouge Area Chamber.
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