Green Light Project Spokesman States Noise Study for Staring Lane Widening Not Warranted

From: John Snow [mailto:jsnow@consultssa.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 5:18 PM
Cc: Brad Ponder (Ponder@csrsonline.com)
Subject: RE: Green Light Project to Widen Staring Lane (Chandler to Highland Rd Stretch)

Please see below for responses to your questions/comments.

·    Is there room for discussion on the scope of this project?  

No, the current scope and design of the project will remain as-is throughout the construction period.  The design of this project was previously finalized after having been through several design iterations in response to public concerns while continuing to meet the specified design criteria.

·    Can the mile above Highland remain as-is?  It is design complete, but construction only 4% complete.

No – as determined through the design phase, improving only intersections and limited stretches of this corridor does meet the future traffic demands of the corridor.  The contractor is now under contract with the City-Parish for construction of all plan and specification requirements for the entire corridor, from Highland Road to Perkins Road.  The City-Parish intends to continue with construction of the project as stipulated in the contract.

·    Project Environmental Document only discusses area immediately around Bayou Duplantier, this is not the only area of impact.  Your estimates for environmental mitigation ($ 240,000) are too low.

The entire project limits, Highland Road to Perkins Road, were investigated for wetlands, UST’s, petroleum products and other hazardous chemicals, cultural resources, cemeteries and other requirements of Phase I Environmental Site Assessment standard practice.  All required wetland permits from the USACOE have been acquired and remain active for this project.  Issuance of said permits reflects the USACOE concurrence of the impacts by this project.  The environmental budget presented in the project’s Concept Report was an estimate of project costs associated with detailed wetland and Phase I ESA studies of the final project limits, permits applications, permit maintenance, and other associated costs.

·     Your project indicates "noise study may be needed".  It is needed as impact is already being felt by the neighborhoods.

The comment “noise study may be needed” was provided as part of the initial concept study.  These concept studies were meant to provide wide-angle views of all Green Light projects in order to more accurately define project scope and budgets.  After this step, the City-Parish hired design engineers for all of the Green Light projects through a professional engineer selection process.  It was during this phase of the design where additional studies were determined to be warranted or not warranted.  Based on the scope of the proposed Staring Lane project, a noise study was not warranted.

Thanks,

John

 

From: Ponder, Brad [mailto:Ponder@csrsonline.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2011 12:55 PM
Cc: Songy, Michael; John Snow
Subject: FW: URGENT GLP Website Inquiry

We have been instructed by the Mayor’s Office and DPW Director to have all public and news media comments and questions go to Mr. John Snow, spokesman for the Green Light Plan.  It is felt this will provide the public and news media with consistent and timely communication regarding all projects in the Green Light Plan.

John Snow can be contacted at jsnow@consultssa.com.

Thank you.

Brad Ponder, P.E.

GLP Program Manager

CSRS, Inc.

6767 Perkins Road, Suite 200

Baton Rouge, La 70808

(225) 769-0546 – Office

(225) 603-9647 – Mobile

Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2011 1:41 PM
To: John Snow
Cc: Ponder@csrsonline.com; jalvarez@brgov.com; wessman@csrsonline.com; rallen@theadvocate.com
Subject: Green Light Project to Widen Staring Lane (Chandler to Highland Rd Stretch)

Can you field these remaining unanswered questions/comments:

·      Is there room for discussion on the scope of this project?

·      Can the mile above Highland remain as-is?  It is design complete, but construction only 4% complete.

·      Project Environmental Document only discusses area immediately around Bayou Duplantier, this is not the only area of impact.  Your estimates for environmental mitigation ($ 240,000) are too low.

·      Your project indicates "noise study may be needed".  It is needed as impact is already being felt by the neighborhoods.