Officials with the Environmental Protection Agency should finish their recommendations on how to create a bike-share program in Baton Rouge within 60 days.
EPA representative Sarah Dale and Asheville, North Carolina-based consultant Don Kostelec spent two days here last week meeting with community leaders, touring the city and holding a public forum to start gathering information that will help them as they prepare their report for the city. The EPA earlier this year awarded a technical assistance grant to Baton Rouge to begin planning for a bike-share program.
“It went really well,” says Downtown Development District Executive Director Davis Rhorer, who has been spearheading the local effort. “I think they were very pleased with the responsiveness of so many participants in this effort. They made a note to tell me that.”
During their visit, Dale and Kostelec met with representatives from the DDD, the city-parish, Center for Planning Excellence, Capital Region Planning Commission, East Baton Rouge Parish Planning Commission and Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. Local cycling groups were also involved in meetings. As envisioned, downtown would be the center of the bike-share program, which would eventually branch out to City Park, the Lakes, LSU and, eventually, to areas farther east.
Once the planning assessment is completed this fall, DDD and the city-parish will have to tackle the issue of funding for the program. Davis says depending on its size and scope, expenses could range from tens of thousands of dollars to several million dollars. He says it’s too soon to estimate how expensive the program in Baton Rouge might be or how it might be funded.
“We’ll have to wait and see what kind of recommendations they come back with,” he says. “But I think we would start small, which is less expensive, and gradually expand from there.”
As reported on Thursday, 32% of respondents of the new CityStats report by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation said they would use a bike share program if it were available.
—Stephanie Riegel
