The part of the bike path in Baton Rouge that was repaved last month makes riding a pleasure now, but why was only half of the entire path repaved? The stretch from the south end of the City Park golf course to the Interstate 10 overpass is still in terrible shape (it was not repaved), and the part that was repaved about four years ago leading to May Street has broken pavement, cracks and potholes with grass growing in parts of them. Once you cross May Street heading to LSU, there is another part of the path that was not repaved and still has dangerous cracks and potholes. When will the rest of the path be redone, and why was it not done all at once?
"The city-parish has repaved the portion of the bike path that runs along Dalrymple Drive from Magnolia Drive to East State Street," says Fred Raiford, East Baton Rouge Parish director of transportation and drainage. "The only parts done are where the sections of the bike path that ran along the actual roadway. We are able to do this work when we are repaving streets in the area.
"The portion of path that runs along the lake itself could not be addressed at that time but will be looked at using federal dollars to complete the path. In the meantime, we can look at having our maintenance division looked at it and see what repairs should be done.
"Once May Street is scheduled for rehabilitation, that portion of bike lane can be repaired. Funding is a factor on getting the remaining part the city is responsible for."
Flannery Road closure
When will Flannery Road between Florida Boulevard and Choctaw Drive be reopened? It has been closed for a few months now. What kind of work is being done there?
Raiford tackled this question for us as well: "I have gone back in our records, and I do not show any road closures on Flannery Road between Florida Boulevard and Choctaw. The only closure we had was the bridge replacement on Flannery Road from Choctaw Drive to Greenwell Springs Road. That work has been completed and the area was reopened in May."