Although the process for the Connector freeway Conceptual Design Study has already produced plenty of suggestions for refinements and alterations, there are a few that may have been missed out on. Here’s some of my own that I think would improve the prospects.
1) Shift the north access ramps from the Evangeline Thruway frontage road system from north of Second Street to north of Mudd Avenue, and retain cross-street access for both Mudd Ave. and Simcoe Street.
The current plans for the “refinements” put forth by the LCP and DOTD drop the north exit/entrance off ramps down between Greig and Second Streets, and block off Simcoe Street altogether in order to create more space for a plaza around St. Genevieve Catholic Church and School. In addition, all the options sever Simcoe St entirely, and partially severs Mudd between the Thruway frontage system and the old northbound Thruway, which is converted into a two-way local street from Greig Street to Bellot Drive.
This has the advantage of offering a buffer zone for the Sterling Grove Historical District, but at the cost of providing vehicle/pedestrian/bicycle access across the freeway. With both Mudd and Simcoe severed, vehicles wishing to cross the freeway to access neighborhoods to the west would have to either use the Second/Third one-way couplet, or use a turnaround that would be provided just before the crossing of the rail spur north of Tissington Street.
It’s understandable why planners want to reduce vehicular access to Sterling Grove, but not at the expense of removing two vital cross-circulation arterials.
Shifting the north access ramps to before Mudd would allow both Mudd and Simcoe to retain their full access, and also allow for a full buffer for Sterling Grove that doesn’t interrupt full vehicular access.
The only drawback in this is that in order to make way for the ramps, all of the local cross streets between Mudd and Bellot Drive would have to be severed (Goldman, Hobson, Sampson); but the old Thruway could handle the transition.
2) Shift the south access ramps, which are currently planned to connect to the Thruway at Eleventh Street, to more traditional “slip ramps” south of Taft Street.
The current LCP proposal uses traditional ramps to curve to meet the existing Evangeline Thruway couplet at Eleventh Street. These ramps are supposed to also provide the connection between the freeway and Johnston Street/Louisiana Avenue in lieu of a direct interchange.
The problem with this concept is that it conflicts with the desire of city officials to better connect the McComb-Veazey and Freetown-Port Rico neighborhoods. The two areas are separated from each other by the heavy industrialized property now occupied by Conco Distribution Company and the former Southern Pacific Railroad distribution yard property. The Evangeline Thruway Redevelopment Team (ETRT), through its Evangeline Corridor Initiative, had been looking at ways to extend some streets (such as Eleventh or Twelfth Street) across that property in order to connect McC-V and FTFR better; their proposals allow for that by shifting the access ramps between the Connector and the Thruway frontage road system further south to either south of Taft Street or south of Pinhook Road.
The LCP/DOTD Concept 4 proposals, however, nixes that by placing the south connection ramps to meet with the Thruway at its connection with Eleventh Street, essentially blocking any means of connecting McC-V with FTPR other than the existing connections of Taft Street, Pinhook Road, and Louisiana Avenue/Johnston Street. The Concept 6 proposals, if anything, are worse; they shift the Taft Street connection from Fourteenth Street to Thirteenth Street, and they totally wipe out the median of the Evangeline Thruway in order to provide for the grade changes to elevate the southbound frontage road to cross the depressed freeway mainline.
The ECI’s Partially Depressed/Covered option solves that problem by shifting the Thruway from its existing couplet paralleling the freeway to directly over the freeway mainline, which would allow the existing Thruway roadways to be converted to local two-way streets; and also allowing enough of a transition over the embankment to extend some cross streets. Moving the south connection ramps to south of Taft and north of Pinhook allows for that option to work.
The ECI’s Elevated option even shifts the south connection ramps even further south to south of Pinhook Road; but that brings a conflict with the connection to East University Avenue/Surrey Street, which serves Lafayette Regional Airport. (But, more on that later.)
In any case, shifting the south ramps to south of Taft, whatever the final design would be, could for those very reasons open up more and better connections between McComb-Veazey and Freetown-Port Rico.
3) Resolve access to the Sterling Grove Historical District and the abutting neighborhood to its west across the proposed freeway ROW by restoring cross-street access via Mudd Avenue and Simcoe Street.
The main issue here is that in order to protect Sterling Grove and the St. Genevieve Church and School from more direct impacts, LCP’s planners designed to cut access through that neighborhood by severing both Mudd Avenue and Simcoe Street. The Concept 4 alternatives do allow for Mudd to be connected to both the southbound and realigned northbound frontage roadways, but still severs Mudd east of the new northbound roadway. The Concept 6 alternatives completely sever Mudd between the northbound and southbound roadways. In addition, both concepts completely sever Simcoe Street to allow for the north ramp connections to meet the frontage road at Second Street; Simcoe is diverted to the Second/Third one-way couplet and then either to a realigned Chestnut Street (for the elevated Concept 4 alternatives) or to Grant Street (for the depressed Concept 6 alternatives).
Naturally, this creates a major issue for Sterling Grove residents wanting to access the neighborhood on the other side of the Thruway, and vice versa. Obviously, you don’t want to encourage major traffic to blow through Sterling Grove using Mudd Avenue, but Mudd is still a significant collector arterial both west and east; and Simcoe is the principal connector between Sterling Grove and another historical neighborhood, Parkside.
Solution 1) as defined above (shifting the north connection ramps to north of Mudd Avenue) would do plenty to resolve the situation, since that would allow for retaining both Mudd and Simcoe as cross connections. Alongside that, the potential issue of Mudd Avenue becoming a convenient speed magnet through Sterling Grove can be resolved through two means: remaking Mudd from the Thruway to Louisiana Avenue into a Complete Streets corridor, and building a roundabout between Mudd and the former southbound Thruway/future local street.
One other issue is that shifting the connection ramps would cause some of the existing cross streets (Hobson Street, Sampson Street, Goldman Street) to be severed between the frontage road Thruway system (although, the existing former northbound Thruway converted to a local street could still serve as a buffer). The benefits of keeping Simcoe and Mudd open would in my view offset this..and you could keep Bellot Drive and Tissington Street open as cross streets or add some turnarounds to reinforce access.
4) Consider elevating the BNSF/UP railroad line at its current ROW on structure through downtown Lafayette, allowing the cross streets to pass underneath at ground level.
The handling of the BNSF/UP main railroad line through Lafayette has been one of the most contentious issues with the Connector freeway design. The originally approved 2003 FEIS/ROD design had two direct single point diamond interchanges between the freeway and both a merger of the Second Street/Third Street one-way couplet and Johnston Street; with the interchanging cross streets depressed to pass underneath the railroad line. The original Base Case also severed the Sixth Street/Lee Avenue crossing in order to allow room for the ramps to the two downtown interchanges.
This was altered in the Conceptual Alternatives Enhancements revisions to eliminate the direct interchanges altogether, restore the Sixth/Lee crossing, and devise new means of connecting the cross streets through the freeway ROW. Under the Elevated concepts, it’s a simple deal: the cross streets pass underneath the elevated structure at grade level as they do now; with only the option of a depressed underpass at Johnston Street offered to improve access. Under the Partially Depressed and Cut-and-Cover concepts put forth by LCP/LADOTD, it gets a bit more complicated; 2nd/3rd. Jefferson, and Lee/Sixth get at-grade crossings of the railroad, but Johnston gets an overpass that penetrates the Freetown-Port Rico Historical District to such an extent that both the Johnston Street intersections with Garfield Street and Lincoln Street would have to be elevated either on fill or structure.
What all of those proposals share is the common design that the railroad remains at current level in its existing ROW. One design alternative that was rejected as part of the Partially Depressed series would have shifted the railroad ROW about 50 to 100 feet to the west of the current position, then lowered it 10 feet to the same level as the depressed freeway. That proved to be too costly and too destructive, as it would severely affect existing crossings outside of downtown Lafayette.
However, there is one alternative design that has not been considered that really should be: raising the BNSF/UP railroad line on structure throughout the downtown area so that the cross streets can pass underneath at existing ground level. It’s not an unprecedented feat for commercial rail lines to be elevated above ground level and seperated from ground-level traffic; Jackson, Mississippi has a similar system using the Canadian National/Illinois Central rail line, and a similar structure is planned for the BNSF line through Tupelo, Mississippi.
The idea generally is to begin the elevated structure just east of the current North University Avenue underpass, then gradually grade it so that it is elevated at least 15 feet from the St. Antoine Street crossing through the curve at Pierce Street and Mudd Avenue/Cameron Street and Simcoe Street, then reaching its full peak of 20 foot elevation downtown between Jefferson and Johnston Street, with a platform built across from or at the Rosa Parks Transportation Center for the Amtrak terminal there, then gradually lowering it back to grade level near the existing East University Avenue underpass. All the major cross streets from St. Antoine Street to Pinhook Road would remain open to pass underneath the mainline; the connection to the Louisiana and Delta Railroad spur to Breaux Bridge would remain at its existing ground level.
The advantages to raising the railroad would be obvious from a noise and traffic standpoint; but it would be especially beneficial for both Downtown Lafayette and the surrounding neighborhoods because the existing ground level track could still be converted into a passenger-based light-rail system that could potentially be extended through Lafayette.
Raising the railroad would be especially beneficial with the ECI Partially Depressed/Covered Mainline proposal, because with the railroad elevated and the cross streets returning to ground level underneath without the conflicts of safety, the impacts on Freetown-Port Rico would be greatly reduced if not eliminated. Also, the Rosa Parks/Amtrak depot platform could be extended to match the height of the elevated embankment needed to mask the semi-submerged freeway mainline.
An alternative to this would be to realign the BNSF-UP mainline to follow the L&D RR mainline to Breaux Bridge, then utilize the abandoned UP line running along the Teche-Coteau Ridge along LA 31 to reconnect with the mainline near New Iberia; and convert the BNSF mainline between Lafayette and New Iberia to a commuter rail/Amtrak/light rail line. This would create its own issues of noise impacts along the L&D line, as well as cost issues.
5) Consolidate the University/Surrey and Kaliste Saloom Road interchanges into one interchange system, and simplify the ramp exit/entrance system to reduce weaving and flood abatement issues.
The southern terminus of the Connector freeway has its own multiple issues as well. There is the bisecting of the flight path of Runway 11-29 of Lafayette Regional Airport; the crossing of the Vermilion River and its floodplain that has been the source of heavy flooding of late, and there is the expense of the Kaliste Saloom Road interchange that has to cross over the BNSF-UP railroad mainline and Hugh Wallis Road and connect with the frontage road system as well as mainline I-49 to maintain access to LRT and the Episcopal School of Acadiana. There is also the conflict involving the Adrien Vega Acadiana Dodge auto dealership, which is located on the Thruway directly across from LFT.
The illustration above shows the design for that section that was approved in the 2003 FEIS/ROD. Note how the directional ramps for the Kaliste Saloom Road interchange connect with both the frontage roads and the I-49 Connector mainline to/from the north, and also how the southbound frontage road is routed around the rear of the Acadiana Dodge dealership. Note also how the Petroleum Helicopters International training facility right across from the current intersection of US 90 with Kaliste Saloom Road effectively limits any ROW acquisition south of that interchange.
Some modifications in design have been proposed and are under consideration for this segment. Due to new regulations involving building runway extensions in wetlands, the University/Surrey interchange design is being modified so that the existing Runway Protection Zone for LFT’s Runway 11-29 will be retained and no extension required. This would entail the possibility of having University/Surrey passing over a depressed I-49 mainline, or depressing University/Surrey to the point that the I-49 overpass doesn’t invade the current RPZ. As for Acadiana Dodge, an alternative design is being offered that shifts the southbound frontage road to a more conventional frontage road format in front of the facility. Minor refinements to the access road connecting Hugh Wallis Road to Kaliste Saloom Road in order to adjust for a new hotel that was built in the original ROW as well as access to the ESA are also being considered.
Further complicating matters are the proposals of the ECI for redeveloping the Vermilion River basin (which includes Beaver Park, Heymann Park, and Vermilionville) as a major recreation area. Their ideas include elevating the mainline to allow for direct vehicular and pedestrian access to connect the park areas now severed by the Thruway; incorporating the former Trappey’s plant on the west side near Beaver Park into the new recreational facility, and building a “Riverwalk” facility connecting the two park areas together.
The proximity of interchange ramps between the Kaliste Saloom and University/Surrey interchanges also may become an issue with interchange spacing, especially since they may also conflict with any possible shift of the south connection ramps to the Evangeline Thruway for downtown to south of Taft Street.
I would think that the ramp system could be greatly simplified by eliminating and consolidating some ramp access between Pinhook Road and south of Kaliste Saloom Road. I’d place the south ramp connection just south of Taft Street; add a ramp connection to University/Surrey just south of the Vermilion River crossing, eliminate the direct ramps to the I-49 mainline to Kaliste Saloom to/from the north, and combine University/Surrey and Kaliste Saloom into one interchange system connection.
It could also be considered to reduce and eliminate the directional interchange at Kaliste Saloom in favor of an elevated tight diamond/frontage road connection where Kaliste Saloom and the frontage roads would have an elevated connection so that the former could cross over the railroad and Hugh Wallis Road on structure. A similar design is being planned for the downstream interchange of US 90/Future I-49 South with Verot School Road. The main issue, though, would be providing access to the PHI facility on the opposite side, and perhaps some additional ROW requirements.
That’s only a sample of my own suggestions; feel free to add your own. As long as they don’t involve Teche Ridge or downgrading to a boulevard…that’s still a non-starter with me.