Louisiana city structure vs other states (New Orleans, Shreveport: home, tax, living)

[Innotech]

Call me crazy, but I kind of think Louisiana cities seem to expand in a much different pattern from other states. We have our share of suburb areas, but it really seems as though they are much less their own entity and more attached to existing towns. If you look at a map of Louisiana, notice that the majority of cities are more spaced apart and are not as dominated by a central city. Lafayette for example backs into Broussard and Scott, but the structure is very different from how cities in other areas of the country seem to interact. We dont really have townships here, or buroughs. I think New Orleans area is the closest to the suburb/white flight idea in the state and perhaps maybe Shreveport/Bossier city. but overall you dont see the massive blobs of interconnected cities and towns surrounding the central one. They all seem to exist osmewhat independently.

[BRMan]

Originally Posted by Innotech

Call me crazy, but I kind of think Louisiana cities seem to expand in a much different pattern from other states. We have our share of suburb areas, but it really seems as though they are much less their own entity and more attached to existing towns. If you look at a map of Louisiana, notice that the majority of cities are more spaced apart and are not as dominated by a central city. Lafayette for example backs into Broussard and Scott, but the structure is very different from how cities in other areas of the country seem to interact. We dont really have townships here, or buroughs. I think New Orleans area is the closest to the suburb/white flight idea in the state and perhaps maybe Shreveport/Bossier city. but overall you dont see the massive blobs of interconnected cities and towns surrounding the central one. They all seem to exist osmewhat independently.

BR used to be that way, but you have a lot of suburban spillover now into (in Livingston Parish) Watson/Denham Springs/Walker and (in Ascension Parish) Prairieville/Galzez/Dutchtown

[urbanexplorer2009]

I live in Haughton, which is east of Bossier City. When I drive home down Highway 80, I pass through many consecutive towns/communities within a 10-mile stretch of road: Bossier City, Red Chute, Eastwood, Princeton, Fillmore, and then Haughton. If a person didn't know they were passing through all these different communities, they would most likely think they drove from Bossier City straight into Haughton. We do seem to have a lot of these areas, such as the north Shreveport-Blanchard-Mooringsport-Oil City area. Oil City is a bit separated because of Caddo Lake, but Shreveport, Blanchard, and Mooringsport pretty much flow together. Bossier City and Benton used to be miles apart, but now they almost touch at the northern edge. Shreveport and Greenwood pretty much touch now, and the town of Waskom, Texas is just a couple more miles down I-20 from Greenwood. Shreveport proper has swallowed quite a few formerly individual communities over the decades, but that doesn't happen much these days considering the city really hasn't grown much in recent years except to chase tax dollars. The only real "spillover" type thing you have here is into DeSoto Parish, south of Shreveport.

[Rmaf623]

In the Alexandria area, the two predominate cities are Alexandria and Pineville. There has been some white flight from Alexandria to the Pineville side of the river, as well as to the west down Highway 28 West towards Kincaid/Cotile Lakes, and to the south to Woodworth. The closest thing to a real suburb is Woodworth. Even though Alexandria is the main city, I think of Pineville as is its own city instead of a suburb of Alexandria. Ball and Tioga and other areas on the north side of the river seem strongly connected to Pineville.

The city of Alexandria continues to grow along its western edge with a number of residential areas that have been developing recently.

[BRMan]

Originally Posted by Rmaf623

In the Alexandria area, the two predominate cities are Alexandria and Pineville. There has been some white flight from Alexandria to the Pineville side of the river, as well as to the west down Highway 28 West towards Kincaid/Cotile Lakes, and to the south to Woodworth. The closest thing to a real suburb is Woodworth. Even though Alexandria is the main city, I think of Pineville as is its own city instead of a suburb of Alexandria. Ball and Tioga and other areas on the north side of the river seem strongly connected to Pineville.

The city of Alexandria continues to grow along its western edge with a number of residential areas that have been developing recently.

Do you see the potential for spillover into Grant Parish ?

[Rmaf623]

Originally Posted by BRMan

Do you see the potential for spillover into Grant Parish ?

There are a couple of small developments in southern Grant Parish already. There could be more development in the future especially since the commute wouldn't be that bad from southern Grant. The Cottingham Expressway runs from the Grant/Rapides border in Tioga to I-49 in downtown Alexandria.