Baton Rouge ( ; French: Bâton-Rouge ) is the capital and second-largest city of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and has an estimated population of 227,017. The metropolitan area, known as Greater Baton Rouge, has an estimated population of 774,327. The Baton Rouge-Pierre Part Combined Statistical Area, consisting of the Baton Rouge metropolitan area and Pierre Part micropolitan area, has a population of 797,208, making it the 64th-largest urban area in the United States.

Baton Rouge is located in the southeast portion of the state along the Mississippi River. It owes its location and its historical importance to its site upon Istrouma Bluff, the first bluff upriver from the Mississippi delta, which protects the city’s residents from flooding and other natural disasters. In addition to this natural barrier, the city has built a levee system stretching from the bluff southward to protect the riverfront and low-lying agricultural areas.

Baton Rouge is a major industrial and petrochemical center of the American South. The Port of Baton Rouge is the ninth largest in the United States in terms of weight.

The Baton Rouge region, like that of some other capital cities in the United States, is called the "Capital Area." English is the de facto language of the region.

History

Beginnings

Baton Rouge dates back to 1699, when French explorer Sieur d'Iberville leading an exploration party up the Mississippi River saw a reddish cypress pole festooned with bloody animals and fish that marked the boundary between Houma and Bayou Goula tribal hunting grounds. They called the tree "le bâton rouge", or red stick. The native name for the site had been Istrouma. From evidence found along the Mississippi, Comite, and Amite rivers, and in three native mounds remaining in the city, archaeologists have been able to date habitation of the Baton Rouge area to 8000 B.C.

Since European settlement, Baton Rouge has been governed by France, England, Spain, Louisiana, the Florida Republic, the Confederate States, and the United States. In the mid-1700s when French-speaking settlers of Acadia in Canada's Maritime were driven into exile by British forces, many took up residence in rural Louisiana. Popularly known as Cajuns, the descendants of the Acadians maintained a separate culture that immeasurably enriched the Baton Rouge area. Incorporated in 1817, Baton Rouge became Louisiana's state capital in 1849. Architect James Dakin was hired to design the new Capital building in Baton Rouge, and rather than mimic the federal Capitol Building in Washington, as so many other states had done, he conceived a Neo-Gothic medieval castle overlooking the Mississippi, complete with turrets and crenelations. During the first half of the nineteenth century the city grew steadily as the result of steamboat trade and transportation; at the outbreak of the Civil War the population was 5,500 people. The Civil War halted economic progress but did not actually touch the town until it was occupied by Union forces in 1862. The Confederates gave up Baton Rouge without a fight, deciding to consolidate their forces elsewhere, during which time, the state capital had been moved to Opelousas and later Shreveport. After the war's end, New Orleans served as the seat of the Reconstruction-era state government; but once Bourbon Democrat rule was restored in 1882, the state government returned to Baton Rouge where it has remained since.

Today

In the 1950s and 1960s, Baton Rouge experienced a boom in the petrochemical industry, causing the city to expand away from the original center, resulting in the modern suburban sprawl. In recent years, however, government and business have begun a move back to the central district. A building boom that began in the 1990s continues today, with multi-million dollar projects for quality of life improvements and new construction happening all over the city. In the 2000s, Baton Rouge has proven to be one of the fastest growing cities in the South in terms of technology. Baton Rouge's population exploded after Hurricane Katrina as residents from the New Orleans metropolitan area moved northward following the devastation. Estimates in late 2005 put the displaced population at about 200,000 in the Baton Rouge area. Despite claims from mayor-president Kip Holden of permanent growth in the region, however, the growth proved to be temporary as displaced citizens returned to their home regions. Due to the Hurricane Katrina victims returning home and native Baton Rouge residents moving to outlying parishes, such as Ascension Parish and Livingston Parish the U.S. Census Bureau has designated Baton Rouge the second fastest declining city in its 2007–2008 estimate. The United States Census Bureau released their estimate for July 1, 2008 on March 19, 2009 and found East Baton Rouge Parish's population to be declining for the second consecutive year.However, the Metropolitan Baton Rouge is one of the more faster growing metropolitan areas in the U.S. (under 1 million), with 600,000 in 2000 and an estimate of 770,000 in 2008. Aside from politics, there is also a vibrant mix of cultures found throughout Louisiana, thus forming the basis of the city motto: "Authentic Louisiana at every turn".

Geography and climate

Baton Rouge is located at (30.458090, -91.140229).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 79.1 square miles (204.8 km²), of which, 76.8 square miles (199.0 km²) of it is land and 2.2 square miles (5.7 km²) of it (2.81%) is water.

Baton Rouge along with Tallahassee, FL, and Austin, TX, is one of the southernmost capital cities in the lower 48 United States.

Climate

Baton Rouge is humid-subtropical, with mild winters, hot and humid summers, rainfall, damaging winds, and tornadoes all year. Snow is rare with the most recent snowfall on 11 December 2008.

Monthly Normal and Record High and Low Temperatures
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Rec High °F (°C)	84 (28.8)	85 (29.4)	91 (32.7)	92 (33.3)	98 (36.6)	103 (39.4)	101 (38.3)	105 (40.5)	104 (40)	94 (34.4)	87 (30.5)	85 (29.4)
Norm High °F (°C)	60 (15.5)	63.9 (17.7)	71 (21.6)	77.3 (25.2)	84 (28.8)	89.2 (31.7)	90.7 (32.6)	90.9 (32.7)	87.4 (30.7)	79.7 (26.5)	70.1 (21.2)	62.8 (17.1)
Norm Low °F (°C)	40.2 (4.5)	43.1 (6.2)	49.6 (9.7)	55.8 (13.2)	64.1 (17.8)	70.2 (21.2)	72.7 (22.6)	71.9 (22.2)	67.5 (19.7)	56.4 (13.5)	47.9 (8.8)	42.1 (5.6)
Rec Low °F (°C)	9 (-12.7)	15 (-9.4)	20 (-6.6)	32 (0)	44 (6.6)	53 (11.6)	58 (14.4)	58 (14.4)	43 (6.1)	30 (-1.1)	21 (-6.1)	8 (-13.3)
Precip in. (mm)	6.19 (157.2)	5.1 (129.5)	5.07 (128.8)	5.56 (141.2)	5.34 (135.6)	5.33 (135.4)	5.96 (151.4)	5.86 (148.8)	4.84 (122.9)	3.81 (96.8)	4.76 (120.9)	5.26 (133.6)
Source: USTravelWeather.com [9151]

Economy

Baton Rouge is the farthest inland port on the Mississippi that can accommodate ocean-going tankers and cargo carriers. As such, those ships transfer their cargo (grain, crude, cars, containers) at Baton Rouge onto rails and pipelines (to travel east-west) or barges (to travel north-south). Deep draft vessels cannot pass the old Huey Long Bridge because the clearance is insufficient, and the river depth decreases significantly just to the north, near Port Hudson.

Baton Rouge's biggest industry is petrochemical production. ExxonMobil has the second largest refinery in the country here and among the top 10 in the world. Baton Rouge also has rail, highway, pipeline, and deep water access. Dow Chemical has a large plant in Iberville Parish near Plaquemine. NanYa Plastics has a large facility in North Baton Rouge that makes PVC and CPVC pipes. Shaw Construction, Turner, and Harmony all started with performing construction work at these plants.



As well as being the state capitol and parish seat, the city is also the home of Louisiana State University. The largest employer in Baton Rouge is government, which recently consolidated all branches of state government downtown in a complex called "Capitol Park".

The research hospitals Our Lady of the Lake and Earl K. Long, helped by an emerging medical corridor at Essen Lane/Summa Avenue/Bluebonnet Boulevard, are positioning Baton Rouge to eventually support a medical district similar to the Texas Medical Center.

Thanks to generous state and local tax credits for the film industry, Baton Rouge has followed other Louisiana cities in developing into an important part of the "Hollywood South" initiative. The new Celtic Media Centre is Louisiana's first and to-date only full service studio/sound stage, and two other studios are being built to meet the needs of this growing industry.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 227,818 people, 88,973 households, and 52,672 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,964.7 people per square mile (1,144.7/km²). There were 97,388 housing units at an average density of 1,267.3/sq mi (489.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 50.02% African American, 45.70% White, 0.18% Native American, 2.62% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.49% from other races, and 0.96% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.72% of the population.

Of all households, 28.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.8% were married couples living together, 19.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.8% were non-families. 31.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 3.12.

In the city the population was spread out with 24.4% under the age of 18, 17.5% from 18 to 24, 27.2% from 25 to 44, 19.4% from 45 to 64, and 11.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 90.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $30,368, and the median income for a family was $40,266. Males had a median income of $34,893 versus $23,115 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,512. About 18.0% of families and 24.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 31.4% of those under age 18 and 13.6% of those ages 65 or over.

Cityscape

Tallest buildings

Baton Rouge currently has several towers in the works. One project includes a 12 story office building, another a 30+ story condominium. They will be the first towers built downtown in two decades.

Name	Stories	Height
Louisiana State Capitol (tallest state capitol building in the U.S.)	34	460 ft (140 m)
RiverPlace Condominiums (groundbreaking early 2009)	30+
One American Place	24	310 ft (94 m)
JPMorgan Chase Tower	21	277 ft (84 m)
Riverside Tower North	20	229 ft (70 m)
Marriott Hotel Baton Rouge	22	224 ft (68 m)
Catholic-Presbyterian Apartments	14
Dean Tower	14
Two City Plaza (under construction)	12
Galvez Office Building	12
Kirby Smith Hall (LSU)	13
Memorial Tower (LSU)		175 ft (52m)
Saint Joseph's Cathedral		165 ft (50m)
Louisiana State Office Building	12	160 ft (49 m)
Jacobs Plaza	13	144 ft (44 m)
Bluebonnet Towers (2 residential towers and one to be renovated into a Renaissance Hotel)	12
LaSalle Office Building	12
Shaw Plaza	12
Wooddale State Office Building	12
Hilton Capitol Center	11	132 ft (40 m)
19th Judicial District Court Building(under construction)	12
Sheraton Baton Rouge Convention Center Hotel	10	125 ft (38 m)

• Baton Rouge Buildings
• Baton Rouge and Environs

Neighborhoods

Baton Rouge has many neighborhoods both inside and outside the city limits:

Banks Beauregard Town Bird Station (Old) Bird Station (New) Bocage Broadmoor Brookstown Brownfields Camelot Capitol Heights Cedarcrest Centurion Place Concord Country Club of Louisiana Dixie Eden Park Easytown Fairfields Belfair Gardere Garden District

Goodwood Glen Oaks Greendale Inniswold Jefferson Terrace Kenilworth Lake Beau Pre Lake Side Mall City Magnolia Woods Melrose Place Mid-City Millerville Monticello Northdale Oak Hills Place

Old Hermitage Old Jefferson Parkview Oaks Pollard Estates Riverbend Santa Maria Scotlandville Shenandoah Sherwood Forest South Baton Rouge Southdowns Southern Heights Spanish Town Stratford Place Tara Tigerland

University Acres University Club University Gardens University Hills University Lakes Wedgewood Westminster Woodgate Woodlawn Estates Woodstone Village St. George Zion City

Government

Federal representation

The United States Postal Service operates post offices in Baton Rouge. The Baton Rouge Central Post Office is located at 750 Florida Street in Downtown Baton Rouge.

Culture

Baton Rouge is the middle ground of South Louisiana cultures, having a mix of Cajun and Creole Catholics and Baptists of the Florida Parishes and South Mississippi. Baton Rouge is a college city with college students from Baton Rouge Community College, Louisiana State University, Our Lady of the Lake College, and Southern University who make up approximately 20% of the city population. In addition, there's a sizable international population of about 11,300, the largest of which are people of Hispanic or Vietnamese descent. Due to this, Baton Rouge has come to have its own unique culture as well as be a representation of many different heritages.

Arts and theater

Baton Rouge has an expanding visual arts scene, which is centered downtown. This increasing collection of venues is anchored by the Shaw Center for the Arts. Opened in 2005, this award winning facility houses the Brunner Gallery, LSU Museum of Art, the Manship Theatre, a contemporary art gallery, traveling exhibits, and several eateries. Another prominent facility is the Louisiana Art and Science Museum. Also known as LASM, it contains Irene W. Pennington Planetarium, traveling art exhibits, space displays, and an ancient Egyptian section. Several smaller art galleries, including the Baton Rouge Gallery, offering a range of local art are scattered throughout the city.

There is also an emerging performance arts scene. The Baton Rouge Little Theater, Baton Rouge River Center, and Manship Theatre mostly host traveling shows, including broadways, musical artists, and plays. Opera Louisiane is Baton Rouge's newest and only professional opera company. Other venues include Reilly Theater which is home to Swine Palace, a non-profit professional theater company associated with the Louisiana State University Department of Theatre.

Events

Many events take place throughout the year, the biggest of which is Mardi Gras. Every year in either February or March(whenever Mardi Gras falls that year) Baton Rouge hosts many Mardi Gras parades, the largest one being held in historic Spanish Town. Other festivals include FestforAll, Louisiana Earth Day, Mardi Gras season, Pennington Balloon Festival, the St. Patrick's Day Parade, and Red Stick International Animation Festival.

Media

The major daily newspaper is The Advocate, publishing since 1925. Prior to October 1991, Baton Rouge also had an evening newspaper, The State-Times—at that time, the morning paper was known as "The Morning Advocate." Other publications include: 225Alive 225batonrouge, LSU Daily Reveille, Tiger Weekly, Healthcare Journal of Baton Rouge, Southern University Digest, Greater Baton Rouge Business Report, and the South Baton Rouge Journal. Other newspapers in East Baton Rouge Parish include the Central City News and the Zachary Post.

Greater Baton Rouge area is well served by television and radio. The market is the 87th largest Designated Market Area (DMA) in the U.S. Major television network affiliates serving the area include:

• 2 WBRZ (ABC)
• 9 WAFB (CBS)
• 11 KPBN (America One)

• 19 KZUP (RTN)
• 21 WBRL (The CW)
• 27 WLPB (PBS/LPB)

• 30 WLFT (IND)
• 33 WVLA (NBC)
• 39 WBXH (My Network TV)

• 41 WBTR (IND)
• 44 WGMB (Fox)

Baton Rouge also offer local cable only channels on Cox Cable. Metro 21 on channel 21, Cox 4 on channel 4, and Catholic Life on channel 15.

See also: List of radio stations in Louisiana

Sports

Baton Rouge is a city that is heavily into college sports. The LSU Tigers and the Southern University Jaguars are the two most popular teams and provide the city's biggest entertainment each football season. The teams' dominance of the city's sports scene is distinguished by the numerous shops and restaurants around town that sell and display memorabilia. College baseball, basketball, and gymnastics are also popular.

Baton Rouge has a very successful rugby team, the Baton Rouge Redfishes. The team began in 1977 and has won numerous conference championships. Currently, the team competes the Deep South Rugby Union as a Division II team..

The city also has a minor league soccer team, the Capitals, who play in the PDL (Premier Development League). Currently, the team plays their home games in Olympia Stadium.

.

Tourism and recreation

There are many architectural points of interest in Baton Rouge, ranging from antebellum to modern. The neo-gothic Old Louisiana State Capitol was originally built in the 1890s as the first state house in Baton Rouge and was lattar replaced by the 450 feet (137 m) tall, art-deco New Louisiana State Capitol which finished was the tallest building in the South. Several plantation homes in the area such as Magnolia Mound Plantation House, Myrtles Plantation, and Nottoway Plantation showcase architecture during the antebellum era. The Louisiana State University has over 250 buildings done in the style of Italian Renaissance, one of the nation's largest college stadiums, and is endowed with many live oaks. Several up and coming examples of modern and contemporary buildings are located downtown and include the Louisiana State Museum. A number of structures, including the Baton Rouge River Center, Louisiana State Library, LSU Student Union, Louisiana Naval Museum, Bluebonnet Swamp Interpretive Center, Louisiana Arts and Sciences Center, Louisiana State Archives, and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, were designed by the Baton Rouge architect John Desmond. Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad Company Depot, currently houses Louisiana Arts and Science Museum.

Museums around town offer a variety of genres. The Louisiana State Museum and the Old Louisiana State Capitol Museum display information on state history and have any interactive exhibits. The Shaw Center for the Arts showcase art exhibits along with Louisiana Art and Science Museum. LASM also includes science exhibits and a planetarium. Other museums include LSU Museum of Natural Science and USS Kidd.

Baton Rouge has an extensive park collection run through BREC. The largest park is City Park near LSU and is current undergoing a complete remodeling. The Baton Rouge Zoo is run through BREC and includes 1800+ species.

Other things to include shopping at the Mall at Cortana and the Mall of Louisiana (Louisiana's two largest malls) and Perkins Rowe, a trip to the local amusement parks of Dixie Landin'/ Blue Bayou, or dining at any number of the revered Louisiana cuisine restaurants.

Education

The Baton Rouge area contains 12 public school districts—Ascension, Baker, Central Community, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Livingston, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, West Baton Rouge, West Feliciana, and Zachary. School districts in the region provide opportunities for advanced learning through Gifted and Academic Magnet programs and tailored programs in music, visual arts, and dramatic arts. Additionally, the Capital Region is home to four of the top ten performing districts (Ascension, Livington, West Feliciana, Zachary) in the state.

Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, generally known as Louisiana State University or LSU, is a public, coeducational university that is the main campus of the Louisiana State University System. LSU includes nine senior colleges and three schools, in addition to specialized centers, divisions, institutes, and offices. Enrollment stands at more than 32,000 students, and there are 1,300 full-time faculty members. LSU is also one of twenty-one American universities designated as a land-grant, sea-grant and space-grant research center. [2] In order to reverse decades of underfunding, the university recently launched an ambitious fundraising drive, called the "Forever LSU" campaign.

Southern University and A&M College is a comprehensive institution offering two associate degree programs, 42 bachelor degree programs, 19 master's degree programs, and five doctoral programs. The university is part of the only historically black land grant university system in the United States. Southern became a land-grant school in 1890, and an Agricultural and Mechanical department was established. The University offers programs of study ranging from associate degree to doctoral and professional degrees. Southern University also provides opportunities for students to participate in internships and summer assignments in industry and with the federal government.

Baton Rouge Community College is an open-admissions, two-year post-secondary public community college, established on June 28, 1995. The college settled into a permanent location in 1998. The campus consists of five main buildings: Governors Building, Louisiana Building, Cypress Building, Bienvenue Building (student center), and the Magnolia Library Building. The college's current enrollment is more than 8,000 students. The curricular offerings include courses and programs leading to transfer credits, certificates and associate degrees.

Infrastructure

Health and medicine

Baton Rouge is served by a number of hospitals and clinics:

• Baton Rouge Clinic - 7373 Perkins Road
• Baton Rouge General Medical Center - Mid-City Campus - 3600 Florida Boulevard
• Baton Rouge General Medical Center - Bluebonnet Campus - 8585 Picardy Avenue
• Benton Rehabilitation Hospital - 7660 Convention Street
• Earl K. Long Medical Center - 5825 Airline Highway
• HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital - 8595 United Plaza Boulevard
• HealthSouth Surgi-Center - 5222 Brittany Drive
• Lane Memorial Hospital – Zachary, Louisiana.
• Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Treatment Center - 4950 Essen Lane
• Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center - 5000 Hennessy Boulevard
• Ochsner Medical Center - 1700 Medical Center Drive
• Sage Integra Hospital Baton Rouge, a rehabilitation hospital - 8225 Summa Avenue
• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - 7777 Hennessy Boulevard
• Surgical Specialty Centre 8080 Bluebonnet Blvd
• Vista Surgical Hospital(LSU Health System Surgical Facility) - 9032 Perkins Road
• Womans Hospital - 9050 Airline Highway

Utilities

• Electric: Cajun Electric Power Cooperative, DEMCO, Entergy
• Natural Gas: Entergy, Louisiana Gas Service Company, Mid-Louisiana Gas Company
• Telephone: AT&T Inc.
• Water: Baton Rouge Water Company, City of Baker, City of Zachary
• Sewer: City of Baker, City of Zachary, East Baton Rouge Parish
• Trash: Allied Waste

Military

Baton Rouge is home station to the Army National Guard 769th Engineer Battalion a units that has recently had units deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. The armory located near the Baton Rouge Airport houses three company sized units. These are: 769th HSC (headquarters support company); 769th FSC (forward support company); and the 927th Sapper Company. Other units of the battalion are located at Napoleonville (928th Sapper Company); Baker, Louisiana (926th MAC mobility augmentation company); and Gonzales, Louisiana (922nd Horizontal Construction Company).

The 769th Engineer Battalion is part of the 225th Engineer Brigade which is headquartered in Pineville, Louisiana at Camp Beauregard. There are four engineer battalions and an independent bridging company in the 225th Engineer Brigade which makes it the largest engineer group in the US Army Engineer Corps.

Transportation

Image:Baton Rouge Bridge.jpg|Horace Wilkinson Bridge I-10Image:HuebridgeBR.JPG|Huey Long Bridge

Highways and roads

Baton Rouge is connected by the following major routes: I-10 (Capital City Expressway via the Horace Wilkinson Bridge), I-12(Republic of West Florida Parkway), I-110 (Martin Luther King Jr. Freeway), Airline Highway (US 61), Florida Boulevard (US 190) (via the Huey P. Long Bridge), Greenwell Springs Road (LA 37), Plank Road/22nd Street (LA 67), Burbank Drive & Highland Road(LA 42), Nicholson Drive (LA 30), Jefferson Highway (LA 73), Louisiana Highway 1 (LA 1) and Scotland/Baker/Zachary Highway (LA 19). The business routes of US 61/190 run west along Florida Blvd. from Airline Highway to River Road downtown. The routes also run along River Rd., Chippewa Street, and Scenic Highway from Chippewa to Airline. US 190 joins US 61 on Airline Hwy. from Florida Blvd. to Scenic Hwy., where the two highways split. US 190 continues westward on Airline to the Huey P. Long Bridge, while US 61 heads north on Scenic Hwy.

To accommodate the rapid growth of Baton Rouge, sections of its freeways have been upgraded in recent decades. However, there is still much work to be done to relieve traffic congestion. According to the 2008 INRIX National Traffic Scorecard, which ranks the top 100 congested metropolitan areas in the U.S., Baton Rouge is the 33rd-most-congested metro area in the country. However, at a population rank of 67 out of 100, it has the second-highest ratio of population rank to congestion rank, higher than even the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana metropolitan area, indicating a remarkably high level of congestion for the comparatively low amount of people living in the area. Moreover, according to the Scorecard, Baton Rouge was the only area out of all 100 to show an increase in congestion from 2007 to 2008 (+6%). The city also tied for the highest jump in congestion rank over the same period (14 places).

Specific problem areas include a stretch of I-12E between the Airline Highway and O'Neal Lane exits, which extends even further to the Denham Springs exit in Livingston Parish. The S. Sherwood Forest Blvd., Millerville Road, and O'Neal Lane exits all made the list of the nation's top 1000 bottlenecks in the aforementioned INRIX study. Three lanes wide until the O'Neal Lane exit, the interstate abruptly becomes two lanes thereafter. This stretch of road, called "a deathtrap" by one lawmaker, has become notorious for traffic accidents, many with fatalities. In 2007, ten people died in traffic accidents within a three-month period on this section of road. Plans are in the works to widen the two-lane portions of this segment to three lanes, eastbound and westbound, by November 2011 at a cost of 100 million dollars.

I-10W at Bluebonnet Road also ranks within the top 1000 bottlenecks for 2008, and I-10E at Essen Lane and at Nicholson Drive rank not far out of the top 1000. Though significant improvements to I-10 were made to allow for easier access to the Mall of Louisiana, the stretch of I-10 from the I-10/I-12 split to Siegen Lane, which includes the Bluebonnet exit, was not part of these improvements and remains heavily congested during peak hours. Initial work in the 87-million-dollar project to widen this segment to three lanes in both directions has begun and may take up to three years to complete.

Surface streets in Baton Rouge are no stranger to severe congestion, either. However, relief is starting to be felt after years of stagnation in road upgrades. Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden has instituted an extensive upgrade of East Baton Rouge Parish roads known as the Green Light Plan. This plan is geared specifically toward improving areas of congestion on the city's surface streets. With its first project completed in October 2008, it has seen numerous others reach completion as of mid-2009, with several more under construction and still others yet to break ground.

A circumferential loop freeway has been proposed for the greater Baton Rouge metro area to help alleviate congestion on the existing through-town routes. The proposed loop would pass through the outlying parishes of Livingston, Ascension, West Baton Rouge, and Iberville, as well as northern East Baton Rouge Parish. This proposal has been subject to much contention, particularly by residents living in the outer parishes through which the loop would pass. If made a reality, the project would cost approximately $4 billion and would not be completed until 2016 at the earliest.

Commuting

The average one-way commute time in Baton Rouge is 22 minutes, a trip 13% shorter than that taken by the average American city worker. Interstates 10 and 12, the two interstates that feed into the city, are highly traveled and connected by highways and four-lane roads that connect the downtown business area to surrounding parishes. 99% of the Baton Rouge workforce drives a personal vehicle to work.

Airport

Located 10 minutes north of downtown near Baker, the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport connects the area with more than 300 cities around the world. Commercial carriers include American Eagle, Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, and Northwest Airlines. Nonstop service is available to Atlanta, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston, and Memphis. The airport is currently going through an expansion to improve its facilities and better compete with other markets.

Buses

Capital Area Transit System (CATS) provides modern urban transportation throughout Baton Rouge, including service to Southern University, Baton Rouge Community College, and Louisiana State University, with affordable fares and an updated fleet of buses. Many CATS buses are also equipped with bike racks for commuters to easily combine biking with bus transit.

Greyhound Bus Lines offers passenger and cargo service throughout the United States. The terminal is located in the downtown area on Florida Boulevard.

Sister cities

• Aix-en-Provence, France
• Cordoba, Mexico
• Port-au-Prince, Haiti
• Taichung, Taiwan

After a visit to the Republic of China (Taiwan), Mayor-President Kip Holden unveiled plans to pursue a sister city agreement with a second Taiwanese city, Taipei.

See also

• Baton Rouge Metropolitan Area
• Baton Rouge Refinery
• Baton Rouge Police Department
• East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office

References

• Frey, Fred Jr. Above Baton Rouge: A Pilot's View Then and Now. Baton Rouge, LA. :Louisiana State University Press,2008 ISBN 978-0-8071-3438-2

External links

• Official Baton Rouge Government Web Site
• Downtown Development District
• Clarence's Baton Rouge Cajun and Zydeco Schedule
• A local's guide for Baton Rouge information
• Baton Rouge City Guide and Internet Rest Area
• Best Of Baton Rouge
• Baton Rouge Guide

Geology and Geological Hazards

• Heinrich, P. V., and W. J. Autin, 2000, Baton Rouge 30 x 60 minute geologic quadrangle. Louisiana Geological Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
• McCulloh, R. P., 2001, Active Faults in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. Public Information Series, no. 8, Louisiana Geological Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
• McCulloh, R. P., 2008a, The Scotlandville, Denham Springs, and Baton Rouge Faults — A Map Guide for Real Estate Buyers, Sellers, and Developers in the Greater Baton Rouge Area. Public Information Series, no. 13, Louisiana Geological Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
• McCulloh, R. P., 2008b, Field Trip Guide to Selected Locations Along the Baton Rouge Fault Trace Spanning the Pleistocene–Holocene Transition in Western East Baton Rouge Parish. Public Information Series, no. 8, Louisiana Geological Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Authorities

• Baton Rouge Police Department
• Louisiana State Police
• East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office

News sources

• The Advocate
• WBRZ
• WAFB
• WVLA
• WJBO AM 1150