Transit consultant removed from comprehensive planning team

Transit experts Nelson/Nygaard Consulting Associates were cut from the team that will update East Baton Rouge’s Horizon Plan to save money, a move that worries some observers who want transportation issues at the forefront of the city-parish’s next comprehensive land-use plan. John Fregonese, who heads the team, says he made the decision during the course of contract negotiations with the city-parish, which allowed him to drop his asking price from about $2 million to just over $1.8 million. He says transit planning will still occur, but will be more conceptual and less detailed. For example, the team might identify corridors and design land use around it, but not say what type of transit would go in that corridor; a more detailed study can be done later, Fregonese says. For a full version of this story, click here.—David Jacobs