Best City in Louisiana (Shreveport, Lafayette: motels, house, find a job)

[WestbankNOLA]

Originally Posted by WestbankNOLA

I'm sure it has a purpose but it just looks so unessecary.

Sorry, I meant to say it looks out of place instead of unessecary. I'm sure it was cheaper than building a hundred flyover ramps in less than a mile like they usually do though. It looks nice, it just looks out of place or incomplete or something.

Originally Posted by darylwi

You are correct. Any future service roads should be done exactly like TxDOT. I can easily navigate Texas freeways.

The elevated section was mainly to level the road to the bridge needed to cross the interstate to connect to the mall area. It's a little bit of an eye sore and I beleive they used a lot more ROW than they needed, but it serves its purpose. Too bad the cops like setting up little speed traps on the EB service road. They should be more worried about the drivers who don't know how or are not courteous enough to merge correctly.

So is it a finished product? or will it be extended along with the I-10 widening? I also would like to see how they pull off that merge with 12. When they are done wouldn't it be like squeezing 6 westbound lanes into 3?

[darylwi]

Originally Posted by WestbankNOLA

So is it a finished product? or will it be extended along with the I-10 widening? I also would like to see how they pull off that merge with 12. When they are done wouldn't it be like squeezing 6 westbound lanes into 3?

The service roads between Bluebonnet and Siegen are finished. Currently no expansion is eminent. DOTD and CRPC entertain the thought of expanding service roads in the future all the way in to Acadian, but for now it doesn't appear to be worth the cost. They should be more worried about that loop that's never going to happen.

As far as the new I-10 construction and the merge, it is already 5 lanes on I-10 westbound where I-12 merges in. I suspect that DOTD is going to keep the 2 lane I-10 configuration for the merge with I-12's three lanes. The new third lane on I-10 east should pick up with the flyover ramp from I-12 to I-10 east, likewise the new third lane westbound will probably drop off onto I-12 eastbound from I-10 west.
If not, then I have no idea how they're going to configure that merge. We shall see. Hopefully it isn't like Texas where they have no worries about merging two freeways into the same middle lanes. DFW in particular is bad at this.

[darylwi]

Originally Posted by WestbankNOLA

So is it a finished product? or will it be extended along with the I-10 widening? I also would like to see how they pull off that merge with 12. When they are done wouldn't it be like squeezing 6 westbound lanes into 3?

Wait a second, I think I see what you mean. It's only 5 lanes right there to College and Acadian. Yeah, it would bunch back down to 3 lanes pretty quick going into the middle of the city.
Once again, we needed that loop 20 years ago.

[WestbankNOLA]

Yea, I think you get waht I mean. I'm saying.. You have 3 lanes coming from 12, then you have 3 coming from 10. After they meet and pass the exit that goes to Wal-Mart, Ruby Tuesday, etc. they drop back donw to 3. So it's like dumping twice the amount of traffic on I-10 than it can hold.

Will building a loop encourage drivers to take the long way around?

[darylwi]

Originally Posted by WestbankNOLA

Yea, I think you get waht I mean. I'm saying.. You have 3 lanes coming from 12, then you have 3 coming from 10. After they meet and pass the exit that goes to Wal-Mart, Ruby Tuesday, etc. they drop back donw to 3. So it's like dumping twice the amount of traffic on I-10 than it can hold.

Will building a loop encourage drivers to take the long way around?

If I was just driving through, and during the daytime, heck yeah it would encourage me. But then again, the 610 loop doesn't encourage me to loop around Houston. Now, sometimes the Beltway 8 does if I'm wanting to change directions (say heading to Conroe and points north or southwest towards Sugarland and Victoria).

I'm afraid any loop would do nothing to solve our city's huge daytime commuter traffic problem. But a loop could potentially get the trucks to bypass the city and that could help.

[WestbankNOLA]

I definitely agree with the 610 thing. Now if only TxDOT and LaDOTD would make tolltags interoperable (especially given the amount of Louisianians going back and forth to Houston), I would be more open to using Beltway 8

[Oildog]

I think Lafayette is the nicest city. Sure NO is a party place, but excess crime and corruption make it fun to visit not fun to live.

[Innotech]

Lafayette has its share of crime, but I think the main difference is you can drive through most neighborhoods without incident and it is quite obvious where the dangerous parts of town are. Its not a case of safe areas mixed with dangerous ones. they are pretty clearly demarcated in Lafayette.

[MetroBTR]

Lafayette definitely has fewer murders per capita than Baton Rouge or New Orleans. I don't know about other crimes such as robbery/burglary/assault

[LOUISIANA'SLEGEND]

Im gonna say the city that has the has the most popularity votes right now is Lafayette. That city is making so much progress and I love to go down there to see all the new exciting things that go on. Lafayette is the best city right now.

I want to concur on the how Bossier City has really leveled with Shreveport as far as city. I mean that boardwalk and that Centurytel Center(umm just for promotion, Centurytel main headquarters is in Monroe, LA!!!! JOBSSSS, HIGH PAYING!!, Here in MONROE), but yeah Bossier City is on the up, but........it still depends on Shreveport for many things. The renovation plan for Bossier City whenever it started maybe 15 yrs ago, was to create an environment that Shreveport lacked in. Thats quality neighborhoods, great entertainment, and an overall stronger, better protected society. Where are all the great jobs in Bossier City in comparison to Shreveport? Main advantage Shreveport has over Bossier City is history, and that alone will protect Shreveport for maybe another decade.