Kansas City Southern Rail Crossings Closures by DOTD

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LADOTD), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and Federal Rail Administration (FRA) are proposing a project that includes the maintenance and rehabilitation of ten (10) and closure of five (5) railroad crossings along the Kansas City Southern (KCS) railroad in the City of Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge Parish.

The crossings that are proposed to be closed will be complete closures. The sidewalks at these crossings would be removed; however, pedestrian crossings would be created at several of the other crossings, usually where sidewalks come up to the railroad right-of-way and end. Detours will be required for the maintenance and rehabilitation during the in-roadway crossing work. The detours will be coordinated with the City of Baton Rouge at the time of construction. Detours will not be required for the signal work at crossings that will remain open.

The maintenance and rehabilitation work will be completed within existing KCS, City of Baton Rouge, or LADOTD right-of-ways. Additional right-of-ways may be required for street connectivity on the east end of Orange Street to connect Orange Street with Matilda Street. Connecting roads within KCS right of way are proposed to link Smith Street, Orange Street, and Apple Street, paralleling the west side of the railroad tracks.

The crossings to be closed are:

·         Gayosa Street

Changes coming to Kansas City Southern crossings.

·         Julia Street

·         Smith Street

·         Orange Street

·         Apple Street

The crossing to be rehabilitated are:

·         North Street

·         Main Street

·         Laurel Street

·         Florida Boulevard

·         Convention Street

·         Wisteria Street

·         South Boulevard

·         Myrtle Walk Street

·         Terrance Street

·         Louise Street

This is the fourth LaDOTD project in Old South Baton Rouge adversely affecting travel and accessibility. The other three are:

·         Closure of Terrace at Highland to accommodate updated I-10 E exit ramp

·         New I-110 S exit onto Terrace Street, and

·         The I-10 widening project

When combined with these railroad crossing closures the Old South Baton Rouge neighborhood will be further subdivided, chopped up into disconnected bits. People living in the area will find it increasingly difficult to travel into, out of, and around the neighborhood. This will have a lasting negative impact that follows an unfortunate historical trend in this neighborhood.

While this plan is much improved from the previous version, we feel it will cause harm to residents along Orange, Apple, and Smith Street. Housing values will likely be lowered. Youth are extremely unlikely to walk several blocks out of the way to access City Park.

The current plan provides safety improvements for vehicles, but not for pedestrians, cyclists, and other vulnerable road users. The railroad came after this neighborhood was built, but these residents continue to shoulder harm, depreciation, and division of their community. Bike Baton Rouge is concerned not only about the residents of these streets, but about what these choices say about our community as a whole. Whose voice matters?

We encourage you to submit a public comment to DOTD, to voice concern about the safety of youth and harm to this community.

We would like to see DOTD come up with funding for basic safety measures to keep these crossings open.

To submit comments to DOTD, email dotdcs@la.gov with "RE: H.012449" in the subject line.