Martin's Ape

I suppose the encouraging news is that there is, in fact, encouraging news (I think that’s a tautology but can’t really figure out whether it is or not so let’s go with circular logic).

“And, what, pray tell, is this encouraging news?” you ask.

Thanks for asking (and thereby getting me out of that logic loop)!

I was talking with Michael Domingue at the Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism the other day. He heads the Recreational Trail Program for that department. They fund all manner of trails in Louisiana and he asked me if I’d like to come by to look at a few current, approved, and funded applications for East Baton Rouge Parish.

Would I?

Oh HELL yes I would! So I went to take a look.

The first two applications

The first two applications are for extension of the Wards Creek path BREC is building out by the Mall of Louisiana.

That project is well underway and nearly complete with both 12-feet wide concrete paths finished, one running from Bluebonnet Boulevard to The Grove – developer Richard Carmouche’s mixed-use development behind the Mall of Louisiana, the other across the Creek from The Grove to Siegen Lane at the Wards Creek overpass.

The bridge intended to connect the two completed concrete paths has, unfortunately, been delayed (indefinitely for all I can learn from BREC) leaving the path broken in the middle and essentially unusable. In fact, the paths are not officially open and riding on them may well be considered trespassing.

Having recently taken a ride from the Capitol to Siegen Marketplace I can attest to how important that missing bridge is. Once it’s in place the Wards Creek path will make getting to Siegen Marketplace relatively easy, not to mention getting away from Siegen.

Two of the four grants are for extending

the Wards Creek Path.

BREC continues to extend, or at least PLAN to extend, the Wards Creek Path in both directions. One application is for extending the north end of the path to just beyond Essen Lane. As you can see from the map above, the intent is to continue the Wards Creek path to tie in to Dijon or an as-yet-non-existent Kenilworth Parkway extension. I would love to see this happen as it would make a motor–vehicle–free route from Kenilworth all the way past Siegen.

While the current route uses Picardy – a relatively traffic-light street – from Dijon to the Mall, it would be really nice to have an entirely motor–vehicle–free route, especially for those who are a little reluctant to swim with sharks.

The other funded application is for extension of the south end of the path past Siegen Lane toward Bayou Manchac. The intent may be to connect what looks like some kind of apartment hell out there to the path.

In wide ranging discussions I know we’ve talked about how nice it would be to continue the Wards Creek path all the way to Bayou Manchac then turn right and continue past Fountain Bayou to the River where the path would meet the Levee Path.

Wouldn’t that be amazing?! I mean, think about it . . . you could start riding at the Vet Med trailhead of the Levee Path, ride around the Lakes, continue on to the Mall of Louisiana area, get on the Wards Creek Path, ride it all the way to the Levee Path at the parish line, and head back on the Levee Path. That would be a loop of, what?, thirty miles? and most of it completely segregated from motor traffic!

But I digress . . .

The third funding request

The third funded request is related to the Wards Creek path only better! Yes, BETTER!

I know, I know, how could it get better, right?

Well, this is how – the third request is to assist funding a path along Dawson Creek behind Pennington / Department of Fisheries / Christian Life Fellowship between Quail Drive and Kenilworth. Just today (2013 December 13), nola.com reported the LSU property and facility committee agreed to lease property at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center to BREC. Since the multi-use path “provide a substantial benefit to LSU and its faculty, staff and students,” BREC will not have to pay any additional rent for the duration of the 20-year agreement.

See? Even better!

The map below shows the Dawson Creek segment under discussion. Notice it ISN’T part of the Wards Creek plan.

A Dawson Creek Path would connect

Quail to Kenilworth.

I can’t for the life of me figure out why this is the segment of Dawson Creek BREC would be seeking funds for at this point. All I can think of is: 1) there are fewer land owners to deal with on this segment and BREC has chosen this “fewer is better” method before; 2) the city is kind of looking at Dawson Creek from Perkins Road at Pollard Parkway to Quail as a possible greenway, and; 3) the rest of the Dawson Creek greenway is going to take a lot of time to build given all the land owners that have to be dealt with.

Regardless of why, this segment of Dawson Creek would be a vast improvement over taking Quail Drive up to Perkins then taking the sidewalk in front of Pennington to the parking lot, wiggle-wagging through the parking lots, and then to Kenilworth. The key will be how the proposed path ties in to Kenilworth at the south end of the Perkins Road Park, assuming it WILL tie in there.

The fourth and last request

This fourth and last funded request had me stumped when I first looked at it.

Farr Park gets connected.

After a minute or two of staring and wondering, I got it. All those people in the development to the east of Farr Park and south of Brightside have to drive, on average, a little over TWO MILES to get to Farr Park and the Levee Path. The people who live at the end of that little curvy street that goes out the southeast corner of the development have OVER THREE MILES of driving to get to the park and the Levee Path. Of course, there’s no guarantee that they WANT to get to the Levee Path but, still, I figure they certainly won’t ride their bikes on Brightside to get there.

I also had no idea there was another BREC park back in that development. Tying it to Farr Park via a dedicated bicycle path just makes sense. With that path in place, that entire residential development will be able to not only ride the streets of their development more or less safely but they can now reach the Levee Path from home largely on a dedicated bicycle path.

If you’ve ever gone to Farr Park and passed the trail head path to continue to the activities center you know that drivers often treat that drive more as a drag strip than a driveway. Having a bicycle path off the road will be a huge improvement. Who knows? It might even induce a little bicycling demand once they know it’s there and provides access to the Levee Path, which in turn provides access to LSU and downtown.

In a couple of years the Levee Path may go as far downriver as the Parish boundary . . . okay . . . maybe in five to seven years . . . but still, it could happen. The next seven miles of levee paving is supposed to happen in 2014 making a total distance of roughly twelve miles of Levee Path. If the rest of the downriver levee is paved to the parish boundary that would add another four mile for roughly sixteen miles of pavement for a thirty-two mile round-trip from downtown. Not bad.

So . . . encouraging news, yes?

There you have it. Encouraging news, yes?

I’d like to thank Michael Domingue at the Recreational Trails Program for letting me look at these projects. It’s a great program that doesn’t have a whole lot of money but they make good use of what they have.

And, my thanks to Ted Jack and BREC for moving forward on these greenways / trails. We’re beginning to see the possibilities for trails in the Parish and Ted is a major supporter of expanding on what we currently have.

Of course, it’s going to take quite literally YEARS to see any of this actually on the ground. But, that’s okay. If they don’t start they can never finish and this is a rather good start if you ask me.

As I mentioned in my previous entry, there's nothing like having guests from out of town to let one see one's own town with fresh eyes. Having nothing to lose, guests are free to say what they think and they do so willingly.

The thing I really like about this is that I get to 1) be surprised, 2) see things from a different angle, and 3) if I'm really lucky, gain a new appreciation for things I may have taken for granted. After a recent Warmshowers guest's stay I hit the trifecta!

Sirapon arrives in Baton Rouge.

I was fortunate enough to have Sirapon as a guest not too long ago (2013 October). She is a 54 year old Thai woman who had been on the road for three years when she arrived in Baton Rouge. Part of her travels had taken her to Germany where, among other things, she had taken the Danube Bicycle Path.

"So, what does that have to do with Baton Rouge, taking things for granted, and having my eyes opened by the perspective of a visitor?" you ask. Hang on . . .

The Levee Path at South Boulevard, currently the

ONLY authorized access point for bicyclists.

One of my four or five main routes to and from work is the Levee Path. It doesn't go far, currently about five miles total, and there is only one authorized access point downtown at South Boulevard. Whoever designed that access clearly never once had his or her ass on a saddle (but that's a topic for another day). Nonetheless, if one is willing to do a little UNauthorized riding it's easy enough to gain access to the Path elsewhere without dismounting.

Getting to the Levee Path from River Road where

it becomes South Boulevard is a tricky maneuver

at the best of times.

Once on the Path one finds oneself on a lovely fifteen-feet wide, three-lane asphalt track completely separated from motor vehicle traffic. That separation is not only horizontal but vertical as the Path in on top of the levee. Being up on top allows a rider to see the traffic below on River Road AND in the batture, though that traffic is largely avian and occasionally reptilian.

You can see the traffic from up here!

The batture is on the left in this image,

the River Road on the right

So I take this Levee Path some of the time to and from work, day in and day out, in the morning and the evening, rain or shine, hot or cold, whenever and whatever. After a while, being human, it becomes a routine - I know where the broken glass is most likely to be, where to watch for the pipe stubs on the bridge over the sewerage outflow pipes, where the down slope / up slope combinations are, and where I can change my route by getting off the Path at McKinley rather than continuing down to the Vet Med Trailhead. I can ride this route without paying attention and without appreciating how nice it is to be able to ride without paying attention.

Worse, it gives me a chance to see all the problems while becoming blind to the advantages. In other words, I begin to take this facility for granted.

Then . . . I have a guest who goes for a ride with me and I get knocked sideways by a casual comment they make.

Sirapon on the Levee Path.

In this case, Sirapon and I went for a bit of a ride-about so I could show her a few of what I think of as highlights of the city. Part of that is riding down to LSU to see if Mike the Tiger is out and awake and, if we're really, really lucky, walking around instead of just lying there beautiful but immobile.

We leave the house, turn on to Lafayette Street, take a look at the Old State Capitol, then get on the sidewalk at the pedestrian overpass by the LASM and work our way up the Labyrinth to the Levee Path. Yes, it's illegal to use that pedestrian / handicapped access but, hey, it beats getting off your bike on River Road to walk up the rotten railroad ties that serve as "stairs" at Florida Street or risk that intersection at South Boulevard / River Road shown above.

It was here that I learned Sirapon is blind in one eye. As you can imagine, that makes riding a loaded bicycle through a labyrinth somewhat more difficult. Hell, that makes riding a bicycle ANYWHERE more difficult.

Once we're up on the Levee Path and past the casino, Sirapon keeps saying, "This is so posh! Look at the lights and the benches. This is really posh!"

Then she hits me with the thing that got me to do a double-take of sorts. "I wish the path along the Danube had been this nice." Huh-WHAT? We have better infra than the Germans!?! Wha'?

A small group riding the Levee Path following

the last presentation at the 2013

Smart Growth Summit.

Why, no, Officer, I came up the AUTHORIZED

access. Why do you ask?

On an unpaved section of the Levee Path

looking at a bald eagle nest with adult

and juvenile eagles present.

Suddenly I'm seeing the Levee Path in a whole new light. Sure, it has its problems but, overall, we have a bicycle facility that rivals that of other, much more bicycle-friendly, cultures. And it's just getting better. With any luck, in the early months of 2014, the city-parish will begin actually moving dirt on the next seven-mile section of pavement that will take the path from Farr Park down to Ben Hur. And I understand there have been informal talks with the Casino to carry the pavement through their property - ON the levee - all the way to the Parish boundary with Iberville Parish.