By now, many of us have heard that the state is finally handing over the keys to Government Street to the city. The Mayor’s Office and many local officials seem to be fully behind the idea of putting the street on a “road diet” by bringing its four lanes down to two travel lanes with a center turning lane and possibly adding some bike paths.
There’s now a huge debate taking place on message boards, in the comments of news stories and elsewhere over whether this road diet will help or worsen driving conditions on Government, whether cars will divert to Florida Boulevard and further clog that artery, whether businesses will suffer or improve, whether this is all a scheme by Baton Rouge’s much-feared “bike lobby” to force us to use our leg muscles.
The big, overarching question is a simple one: What is Government Street to Baton Rouge?
Take a drive down Florida. Then, take a drive down Government. You’ll notice some similarities: They run parallel to each other in and out of downtown, both offer multiple lanes of travel, and they are both busy thoroughfares.
But there are some big differences. Florida is mostly separated by a median that grows wider the further away from the city center you get. Government is four narrow lanes sandwiched together for its full stretch.
Now, look at the businesses along both routes. On Florida, the parking lots are huge and the businesses are mostly set back far from the curb. On Government, the parking lots are smaller, the businesses are stacked one after the other and many are right up against the sidewalk.
So, if we’re talking about ways to improve Government (and jeez, y’all, we are! Just check out the number of comments on this Advocate story), widening the existing road is probably out of the question. But how do we improve what’s become such a dangerous headache for commuters as well as residents in the adjacent neighborhoods?
The road diet, at least in its preliminary form, is a good plan and the best solution for the street. Here’s why:
Looking at the layout of businesses along Government, it was clearly never meant to be such a heavy commuter route. We have trained ourselves to think of Government as a racetrack. We launch ourselves and our vehicles through one end and out the other and hope we don’t get sideswiped along the way by a restless driver swerving into our lane because they can’t stand to slow down for a turning vehicle.
It’s not a racetrack, and the surrounding neighborhoods and businesses are not equipped for it. The FuturEBR plan talks a lot about creating destinations along Government so people will park their cars, get out and walk from business to business in a particular area.
The streetscape is already developing that way and businesses have been flourishing because of their proximity to each other, despite how horrible the road is. Look at the areas around Radio Bar and Denicola’s, Circa 1857 and the Jefferson Highway intersection.
A road diet and a complete streets model for Government Street, as seen at the Better Block BR event last April, will capitalize on what business owners have already done to make the street a destination.
Smaller streets, landscaped medians, adjacent bike lanes and crosswalks will all naturally lead drivers to slow down.
I would argue though that an endless stretch of a center turning lane from I-110 all the way to Lobdell Avenue will just give drivers free reign to zoom down the middle if they’re frustrated with the traffic flow. That center lane should be interspersed with landscaped medians at various points to deter drivers from considering it a traffic lane. Because let’s be honest, Baton Rouge drivers are crazy.
A Federal Highway Administration study showed that for pedestrians, fewer lanes to cross means they are less likely to get injured, which is pretty much a no-brainer.
As long as the city plans this road diet to include improved crosswalks, we’ll see more people from the neighborhoods out and about and they won’t have to worry about playing Frogger to get to the grocery store across the street … because of those crazy Baton Rouge drivers.
Not to mention, this will be a boon for events like Mid City Merchants’ various art hops throughout the year, where organizers have to hire security to help visitors cross the busy street.
Yes, commuters will spill onto Florida Boulevard, North Boulevard and North Street. But I’d venture to say the traffic increase won’t be excessive. That’s the beauty of Mid City’s grid system—there are a lot of alternate routes. And that’s something sorely missing in much of the rest of the city.
What spills onto the other streets could help increase interest in those areas and businesses, maybe even lead to revitalization along North Boulevard and North Street.
At least one bike lane; one that is safely separated from traffic by a small median, would be a huge benefit. People actually do bike in this city and the increasing number of bike racks at businesses—many along Government Street—indicate this.
The addition of a bike lane on Capital Heights Avenue meant that more people saw the convenience of it and—surprise!—we now see people riding their bikes on Capital Heights Avenue frequently. They didn’t just come out of nowhere. The lane encourages usage of a bike and, let’s be honest, we’d all be better off if we got on our bikes a little more.
So, what’s your take? What are you hoping to see with the Government Street redesign? Let us know in the comments below!
