BIKE LANES IN SOUTHDOWNS?

It’s been more than two years since Baton Rouge received $579,000 in federal funding to build bike lanes on both sides of Hyacinth Avenue, from Glasgow Avenue to Stanford Avenue. Turns out, the money was only half of what was needed for approximately 4,800 feet of four-foot-wide bike lanes, and the state Department of Transportation kicked the design back to the city-parish for modifications such as covered drainage. Public Works Deputy Director Bryan Harmon says additional federal funding has since been secured and that the project’s final cost is pegged at $1.1 million. The city-parish is matching 5% of the funding. Harmon says the project is still in design for drainage, driveways, mailboxes and utility poles, and probably won’t be under construction this year. “It’s kind of a drawn-out process; we’re looking at several months for sure,” Harmon says. Traffic engineer Ingolf Partenheimer says the project is part of the city-parish’s plan to extend walking and biking lanes away from the LSU lakes. —Adam Pearson