Not a week goes by that customers of BLDG 5 don’t ask owners Misti and Brumby Broussard when a much-anticipated pedestrian and bike path near their restaurant will finally break ground.
Progress seems to be inching closer, but the Broussards still have to respond that they don’t know the answer. It’s out of their hands.
“I would say it’s a probably a weekly question we get at the restaurant with someone saying, ‘When’s that path coming in?’” Misti says. “They’re all very excited. They ask, ‘Who can we call to make it happen faster?’”
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It’s been four years since the Broussards, along with Varsity Sports owner Jenni Peters, Moreau Physical Therapy owner Al Moreau, and Chad Hughes, co-owner of Ivar’s Sports Bar & Grill and Var’s Pizza, raised more than $40,000 to fund a land survey and landscape plan showing what could be done to improve the area, a thriving commercial district that most agree suffers from unsightly landscaping and inadequate, unsafe parking.
The conceptual plan, created by CARBO Landscape Architecture, calls for a pedestrian path under the Perkins Road Overpass linking Reymond Avenue to Christian Street.
“It’s a project that’s had zero opposition—from the city, from residents, from the neighborhood, from the public,” Misti says. “I think there’s a tremendous amount of interest because it’s just going to be utilized by so many different people for so many different reasons.”
While painfully slow and held up by bureaucratic hurdles, the project has made incremental progress, and it’s possible ground could be broken in the next few months. Last week, CARBO presented the latest stage of the plans, which are about 60% completed, to officials from the City of Baton Rouge’s MOVEBR program, which has allocated approximately $2.7 million for the project and is managing its completion. MOVEBR prioritizes projects that reduce traffic and encourage connectivity.
“We’ve submitted our ‘60%’ documents and are moving towards getting into the final documents for construction,” CARBO partner Shannon Blakeman says. Blakeman was not comfortable speculating on a timeline for breaking ground.
In the last month, frequenters of the area have seen a glimpse of what could happen in the district. The Colonel’s Club owner Jordan Piazza invested in parking and landscaping improvements in front of the restaurant that are consistent with the types changes called for in the plan. Piazza spent more than $2 million in opening the design-forward restaurant and improving its front-facing parking and landscaping.
City of Baton Rouge Transportation and Drainage Director Fred Raiford says one of the biggest project hurdles has been working with Kansas City Southern to construct the path over a railroad crossing under the Overpass near the Reymond Street. The railroad has granted approval, Raiford says, but plans to build the crossing itself. It will install arms that will lower when a train comes through the area, along with fencing that will keep pedestrians from walking around it. The timeline for this work has not been announced. It’s possible that other parts of the project could start independent of the railroad crossing, Blakeman says.
Raiford says the city is currently working with another utility, Entergy, to relocate and bury the overhead electrical lines that cut through the area. He anticipates that part of the project to happen this fall.
“I think we should have everything cleaned up and ready to go by the first part of December,” Raiford says.
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When it’s finally finished, the path under the overpass will give walkers and bikers an alternative, safer means of reaching the businesses throughout the lively district. It’s a path that fans of alternative transportation have already blazed despite the overpass’ sharp pitch, lack of lighting and overgrowth. The plan conceives of an easier-to-use parking configuration, attractive lighting and landscaping, too.
The completed project also has the potential to connect to two other alternative transportation projects in the area, organizers say. The University Lakes overhaul will eventually feature improved or new pedestrian pathways. And, the I-10 widening project calls for new greenspace and an improved parking plan in the Perkins Road Overpass District roughly between Parrain’s Seafood and Chow Yum.
“We remain really positive about what this will bring to the area,” Misti says. “We think it is great for the community as a whole.”