RESEARCH
A significantly increasing population, the country’s largest river, and a growing airport are all reasons that the Baton Rouge area is highly focused on transit/transportation issues. BRAC has committed to developing research that assists in making fact-based decisions.
Final Report of the Blue Ribbon Commission on East Baton Rouge Parish Public Transit
City of Baton Rouge/Parish of East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Melvin "Kip" Holden formed the Blue Ribbon Commission on East Baton Rouge Transit (BRC) in 2011 to identify and recommend viable options to address the parish’s public transit challenges. BRAC played a crucial role on this commission. The BRC worked for several months to evaluate the transit system, identify deficiencies, and recommend solutions developed to tackle these deficiencies.
Preliminary Analysis of CATS Operations
This benchmarking analysis examines transit program funding and operations of the Baton Rouge Capital Area Transit System (CATS) and 22 other U.S. metropolitan transit systems.
Solving Louisiana's Transportation Crisis: A Historic Economic Development Opportunity
The state Department of Transportation and Development reports a backlog of highway and road projects amounting to $14 billion and growing. Additional funding is needed to address substandard road conditions, structural failure of infrastructure, and traffic congestion. The members of the coalition are encouraging the Legislature to allocate new recurring funds toward the development of the transportation network across the state. Issued by a coalition of chambers from around Louisiana, this issue brief suggests that state voters will face large tax increases for road capacity projects in the future if the Legislature does not allocate sufficient new recurring funding for road capacity in the FY08 state budget.
Regional Airport Market and Economic Evaluation
The issue brief outlines a wide range of strategic options with potential to better serve the Baton Rouge area and catalyze our region’s economic growth. Options evaluated include the expansion of existing airport facilities, the construction of new airports, and the use of airline incentives to attract new carriers to the region.
Regional Transportation Group Analysis
In early 2008, BRAC created and organized the regional transportation group (RTG), a business-led effort to strategically pursue major regional transportation projects, comprised of business and political leaders from the nine-parish area. The group was designed to make the case for adequate resources and communicate a shared regional vision among key stakeholders. Through the RTG, BRAC advocates for near- and long-term transportation solutions that will benefit businesses and residents of the nine-parish area.
On April 1, 2009, BRAC released the results of a transportation analysis RTG commissioned early last year. The analysis, conducted by ABMB Engineers, Inc., was initiated to quantify the reduction of traffic congestion and cost estimates of fifteen major transportation projects in order to create a funding priority list. Based on the fact-based analysis, the top three recommended transportation projects for the Baton Rouge area at the time were the Pecue Lane interchange, I-12 widening (Range to Walker), and I-10 widening (Siegen Lane to LA 73).