Capital Region delegation’s top priority is new roadways

As the Capital Region Legislative Delegation prepares for the session that begins Monday, April 8, the lawmakers say their top priority will be securing funding for infrastructure and transportation projects to help ease the notoriously congested roadways in the Capital Region. The delegation, which comprises representatives from a nine-parish region centered in East Baton Rouge Parish, met with Gov. Bobby Jindal on Friday to request his support on their top priorities. The delegation’s list of preferred projects is split into those valued over $3 million, called “mega projects,” and those below that threshold. Topping the mega-projects list is $5.5 million to study an alternate freeway route around Baton Rouge using Airline Highway, which would purportedly promote “urban renewal in a heavily blighted area of Baton Rouge.” The delegation says “the new interstate-style roadway”—which they call BUMP—would link Interstates 10, 12 and 110, as well as U.S. 90, “expanding the regional freeway system while still providing free frontage roads for local access.” The mega-projects list also includes $10 million to widen Hooper Road and $4 million for the renovation of Taylor Hall on the LSU campus, among others. Also, on the list of non–mega-project priorities is $2.5 million for the LSU Nicholson Gateway project, as well as $500,000 for the planned Knock Knock Children’s Museum in Baton Rouge. You can see the delegation’s complete 2013 Legislative Agenda on its Facebook page here.