Louisiana Group in Louisville to Study Transportation, Development

The Mayor of Baton Rouge and other Louisiana officials will be in Louisville this week to meet with various area business and development leaders.The Baton Rouge Area Chamber (BRAC), similar to Greater Louisville Inc, is hosting the visit and president Adam Knapp says around 100 individuals are visiting Louisville because it offers models for development. The trips are common among area chambers and it offers the chance to learn how other cities have implemented different areas of development.One of the main topics will be transportation, said Knapp.“Our transit system is, by comparison to places like Louisville, woefully under-funded and by result it goes practically nowhere," he said.Baton Rouge will soon consider a measure that will significantly change the funding to the transportation system there, and one goal is to give riders a 15 minute wait time on major routes, said Knapp. This is similar to Louisville’s initiative last year, which has led to increased ridership on those routes.“Our average wait time for a user of our buses, this is going to be shocking I think for you to hear, is about 75 minutes for the person who is waiting for a bus to arrive," Knapp said.Baton Rouge is also trying to develop partnerships based on well known national models and Knapp names the 55,000 degree program and city, university partnerships as example.The visitors will be in town Sunday through Tuesday and they expect to meet with Mayor Greg Fischer, Lt. Governor Jerry Abramson and downtown developers, including leaders of the Ohio River Bridges Project.