Open data: The city-parish has made data on citizen service requests available to the public, Mayor Kip Holden’s office announced today. The city-parish’s Open Data BR portal now lists data from the 311 Citizen Requests for Service system, which includes all citizen requests for service submitted through the city-parish 311 Call Center, via 311.brla.gov and through the Red Stick 311 mobile app. The 311 Citizen Requests for Service system captures, organizes and routes individual requests for service on issues ranging from tall grass and damaged traffic signs to trash on private property and missing garbage carts. Earlier this year, the city-parish began work to streamline how service requests are captured and managed by public works staff. The goal was to create a much more efficient system for routing and responding to requests, which included launching the Red Stick 311 web platform and mobile app.
New investment: Metairie-based Barriere Construction is hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday to celebrate the opening its new asphalt plant in Baton Rouge. Gov. John Bel Edwards, U.S. Rep. Garret Graves and state Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Shawn Wilson are expected to attend the ceremony, according to a Barriere spokesperson. The company says the new plant can produce 400 tons of product per hour and is capable of conducting 24-hour operations. The opening of the plant will create 75 new jobs in addition to the 24 Barriere jobs already in existence in the Baton Rouge market. Barriere says the impetus for new investment is Barriere’s confidence in the Baton Rouge market. “In the next six months it is anticipated that contracts to improve over 400 miles of Louisiana highways will be let, more than 40 of which are in the Baton Rouge district,” a company spokesperson says.
One way: The northbound lane of St. Louis Street downtown will be closed beginning Tuesday for the foreseeable future while the new River Center library branch is under construction. However, motorists will still be able to access the River Center garages from both directions of St. Louis Street, according to Downtown Development District Executive Director Davis Rhorer. “The River Center garages will not be impacted,” he says. The southbound lane of St. Louis will not be affected by the closure or construction.
