Speak up about passenger rail plan

On Wednesday, the DOTD is asking for your input to help develop the Louisiana State Rail Plan, which includes passenger rail service.

This open house is the perfect opportunity to give your thoughts and support for a passenger rail line linking Baton Rouge and New Orleans, which is an important component of the FutureBR plan.

Back in May, the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Planning Organization and the New Orleans Metropolitan Planning Organization chalked up nearly $300,000 of federal grant money toward a feasibility study of commuter rail service between the two hubs. Read that story here.

So it’s clear that even though the state rejected $300 million in federal money toward the project in 2009, the two largest metropolitan areas in Louisiana still see this as an important step in improving our local economies—not to mention how easy it would be to head in either direction via train for a weekend excursion, a flight or even your daily work commute.

The DOTD open house will be Wednesday, 4-6 p.m., at BREC’s Independence Park, Room 111, 7505 Independence Blvd. For more information, call the DOTD’s Public Information office at (225) 379-1232.

If you’re in New Orleans on Tuesday, the DOTD open house will be from 4-6 p.m. at the Regional Transportation Management Center, Conference Room, 10 Veterans Memorial Blvd. The DOTD release about the meeting can be found here.