I decided to winter in Louisiana this year, on Grand Isle, although my timing couldn't have been worse. i.e. 130 year winter storm. I have found your videos fun to learn more about Louisiana.
Well, you got to experience history! As mind-blowing as the snowfall was for us inland, I still can't get over the fact that even on the coast there was so much snow!
@@lorencklein 5" measured on the island and near blizzard conditions with drifts topping a foot. Lows below 26° and a major fish kill, depleting already low fish stocks. See my video on roadrunner detecting for conditions at the peak of the storm.
I miss the old Saint Francisville ferry, personally, and the little old lady who used to push her cart up and down the line of waiting cars selling snacks. My dad and I used to drive from Alec to Port Hudson to participate in the reenactment there every year, and I fondly remember crossing the river on that ferry and trying to imagine what it must have been like in Porter's fleet or on the deck of an ironclad on that river while the heavy guns high on a bluff start to open fire. Oh the things that river has seen!
My kids loved it when we would go visit St Francisville because of crossing the ferry.. That although nice that bridge for St Francisville definitely could have been better suited around Baton Rouge to alleviate that nightmare called I-10. Side note, one of the old St Francisville Ferry's is now in use between Cameron & Holly Beach Hwy 27 over the Calcasieu Ship Channel while the Cameron Ferry is in drydock.
I was born in Mobile Ala. my mom and dad had family throughout southern Ala.. In 1965 my Family moved to S.A. Texas. I've traveled back and forth from Texas to Alabama all my life. In the 60's we ran old Hwy. 90 from Mobile to the LA. line ( Passed by the White Kitchen a favorite stop for us) then Hwy. 190 through Slidell to Covington and west to Baton Rouge. Crossed that old orange bridge many times. For many years I-10 over the Atchafalaya basin while it was under construction we would run Hwy 190 from B.R. to Kinder then back down to Lake Charles back onto Hwy. 90. As I-10 was completed over the years the route changed as we stayed more to the interstate which cut travel times a lot. Old Hwy. 90, 190, and I-10 are forever with me and are a part of my life along with all the changes could drive them blind folded.
I live outside the limits of St. Francisville so can say a few things about all the bridges mentioned in this video, starting with the Audubon Bridge "to nowhere" just downstream of both St,. Francisville and New Roads.. First off, BOTH Marine Commandants were born in West Feliciana Parish. It's just that Lejuene was born on Raccourci Island, which was cut off to now be on the west bank by a meander of the Mississippi River in the mid-1800s, but is still part of WFP because the parish boundaries never changed. Second, the guy from the east bank was named "Barrow", not "Harrow". As he was a fairly close cousin of mine, a fairly close neighbor (he lived about 2 miles south of me on US Hwy 61 out in the sticks), a former boss (I was a Jarhead in the last year of his reign), and an occasional jam-session partner on blues guitar, I have to set that record straight. Lejuene was also a cousin but more distant. So yeah, having 2 Commandants from this total backwater area is shocking enough to name a bridge after them, but everything in and near WFP defaults to being named "Audubon" so that's why all that happened. The Audubon bridge was orignally planned to be over the old ferry route, which would have put its east end directly in St. Francisville. As that town's main industry is tourism due to its quiet, antique, small-town charm, having a major bridge (with all the expected traffic, which never actually came) would have ruined its image and maybe struck it off the list of stops for the various river cruise lines. That's why the bridge ended up getting built out in nowhere between the nowhere towns of St. Francisville and New Roads. I was in the WFP and St. Francisville fire departments during its construction and, as we had the nearby examples of the wrecks and traffic messes on the Baton Rouge bridges, so we got together with our compadres from Pointe Coupee Parish on the west bank to figure out how we'd jointly handle all the expected wrecks on the bridge. But AFAIK (I've been out of the fire service the last 4 years), more people were killed or maimed during its construction (2) than since it opened to traffic. The anticipated traffic hasn't materialized. Why? Because this stretch of the Mississippi was for a long time from earliest colonial days until the early 1800s was an international boundary. The west bank was part of the Louisiana Purchase, the east was not. And even after both sides came under US control, the cultural differences remained. Cajun French on the west side, Spanish/English on the east side. So all the locals on both sides have for many generations viewed the opposite side as enemy territory and only crossed the River to visit an out-of-town mistress or do other scandalous things out of sight of their own neighbors. The Audubon Bridge's opening in 2011 was actually a few months earlier than planned because a MASSIVE flood put the St. Francisville-New Roads ferry out of action, by putting its east bank landing underwater. So when the bridge opened, it was only 1 lane each way with gaping holes in the inner lanes. Neither the ferry nor the bridge ever saw as much traffic as they did that 1st day of the bridge and the last day of the ferry. Folks would ride the ferry and come home on the bridge, to be one of the last in 1 direction and one of the 1st in the other. And I still think we'd be better off still having the ferry and that the bridge had been built on the south side of Baton Rouge. In a comment to a previous video, I've already described the HPL bridge in Baton Rouge. As for the I-10 bridge, when it opened in 1968, I-10 itself didn't yet exist in Lousy Anna other than a few miles witth the city limits. The section between Baton Rouge and Lafayette didn't open until the early 70s and the section between Baton Rouge and New Orleans didn't open until the mid-80s. So for the first litle while of the I-10 bridge being open, the outboard lanes were painted with angled, nose-in parking spaces so you could just watch the river traffic and then back out into the middle lane because there was so little traffic. And my maternal grandmother took very young me down to Baton Rouge especially to experience this. We crossed the bridge westbound, turned around, and parked at the exact center going eastbound and looking downstream. There, we ate our picnic lunch of PBJs while watching barges and ships moving along the river. And Grandma said, "Be sure to remember this. You'll never be able to stop up here and eat lunch again." Sadly, she was quite wrong there, as with today's traffic, you can be stopped and eat a prepared lunch EVERY DAMN DAY on this bridge due to the bottlenecks of traffic and the constant wrecks as a result. I've done that a few times in the decades since. Just without the nose-in parking spaces. And so, when I must cross the River in BTR, I use the HPL bridge on US 190 by preference.
We do not need another rural bridge over the Mississippi River! We need more capacity for I-10 in Baton Rouge, or connectivity of I-10 west of Port Allen to the Sunshine Bridge and then back to I-10 and then I-12 east of Denham Springs. Also finish I-49 through Lafayette, Morgan City and then back to New Orleans. The Bridge as proposed would be a waste of money in developing our existing infrastructure.
It's crazy how awful Baton Rouge traffic is. I realize they want to blame Katrina and it's true, but after 20 years there should be much more progress. Then you start to realize that anything around govt doesn't work correctly in Louisiana unless everyone gets paid and 100 different studies are done by everyone's cousin. It's sad because what used to be a great place is now just gridlock at all hours of the day.
I decided to winter in Louisiana this year, on Grand Isle, although my timing couldn't have been worse. i.e. 130 year winter storm. I have found your videos fun to learn more about Louisiana.
Well, you got to experience history! As mind-blowing as the snowfall was for us inland, I still can't get over the fact that even on the coast there was so much snow!
@@lorencklein 5" measured on the island and near blizzard conditions with drifts topping a foot. Lows below 26° and a major fish kill, depleting already low fish stocks. See my video on roadrunner detecting for conditions at the peak of the storm.
Banger per usual
real recognizes real
@ fancy seeing you here
I miss the old Saint Francisville ferry, personally, and the little old lady who used to push her cart up and down the line of waiting cars selling snacks. My dad and I used to drive from Alec to Port Hudson to participate in the reenactment there every year, and I fondly remember crossing the river on that ferry and trying to imagine what it must have been like in Porter's fleet or on the deck of an ironclad on that river while the heavy guns high on a bluff start to open fire. Oh the things that river has seen!
Nice video, Loren. I went to elementary school with you in St. Martinville. You were always passionate and beyond intelligent.
Thank you once again sir. I really enjoy your videos.
Like the Sunshine Bridge, I too appeared in August of '64. I'm glad you didn't go into the bridge being really old and needs to be replaced...
My kids loved it when we would go visit St Francisville because of crossing the ferry.. That although nice that bridge for St Francisville definitely could have been better suited around Baton Rouge to alleviate that nightmare called I-10. Side note, one of the old St Francisville Ferry's is now in use between Cameron & Holly Beach Hwy 27 over the Calcasieu Ship Channel while the Cameron Ferry is in drydock.
ANOTHER great video!!!! Thanks
I was born in Mobile Ala. my mom and dad had family throughout southern Ala.. In 1965 my Family moved to S.A. Texas. I've traveled back and forth from Texas to Alabama all my life. In the 60's we ran old Hwy. 90 from Mobile to the LA. line ( Passed by the White Kitchen a favorite stop for us) then Hwy. 190 through Slidell to Covington and west to Baton Rouge. Crossed that old orange bridge many times. For many years I-10 over the Atchafalaya basin while it was under construction we would run Hwy 190 from B.R. to Kinder then back down to Lake Charles back onto Hwy. 90. As I-10 was completed over the years the route changed as we stayed more to the interstate which cut travel times a lot. Old Hwy. 90, 190, and I-10 are forever with me and are a part of my life along with all the changes could drive them blind folded.
I live outside the limits of St. Francisville so can say a few things about all the bridges mentioned in this video, starting with the Audubon Bridge "to nowhere" just downstream of both St,. Francisville and New Roads.. First off, BOTH Marine Commandants were born in West Feliciana Parish. It's just that Lejuene was born on Raccourci Island, which was cut off to now be on the west bank by a meander of the Mississippi River in the mid-1800s, but is still part of WFP because the parish boundaries never changed. Second, the guy from the east bank was named "Barrow", not "Harrow". As he was a fairly close cousin of mine, a fairly close neighbor (he lived about 2 miles south of me on US Hwy 61 out in the sticks), a former boss (I was a Jarhead in the last year of his reign), and an occasional jam-session partner on blues guitar, I have to set that record straight. Lejuene was also a cousin but more distant. So yeah, having 2 Commandants from this total backwater area is shocking enough to name a bridge after them, but everything in and near WFP defaults to being named "Audubon" so that's why all that happened.
The Audubon bridge was orignally planned to be over the old ferry route, which would have put its east end directly in St. Francisville. As that town's main industry is tourism due to its quiet, antique, small-town charm, having a major bridge (with all the expected traffic, which never actually came) would have ruined its image and maybe struck it off the list of stops for the various river cruise lines. That's why the bridge ended up getting built out in nowhere between the nowhere towns of St. Francisville and New Roads. I was in the WFP and St. Francisville fire departments during its construction and, as we had the nearby examples of the wrecks and traffic messes on the Baton Rouge bridges, so we got together with our compadres from Pointe Coupee Parish on the west bank to figure out how we'd jointly handle all the expected wrecks on the bridge. But AFAIK (I've been out of the fire service the last 4 years), more people were killed or maimed during its construction (2) than since it opened to traffic. The anticipated traffic hasn't materialized. Why? Because this stretch of the Mississippi was for a long time from earliest colonial days until the early 1800s was an international boundary. The west bank was part of the Louisiana Purchase, the east was not. And even after both sides came under US control, the cultural differences remained. Cajun French on the west side, Spanish/English on the east side. So all the locals on both sides have for many generations viewed the opposite side as enemy territory and only crossed the River to visit an out-of-town mistress or do other scandalous things out of sight of their own neighbors.
The Audubon Bridge's opening in 2011 was actually a few months earlier than planned because a MASSIVE flood put the St. Francisville-New Roads ferry out of action, by putting its east bank landing underwater. So when the bridge opened, it was only 1 lane each way with gaping holes in the inner lanes. Neither the ferry nor the bridge ever saw as much traffic as they did that 1st day of the bridge and the last day of the ferry. Folks would ride the ferry and come home on the bridge, to be one of the last in 1 direction and one of the 1st in the other. And I still think we'd be better off still having the ferry and that the bridge had been built on the south side of Baton Rouge.
In a comment to a previous video, I've already described the HPL bridge in Baton Rouge. As for the I-10 bridge, when it opened in 1968, I-10 itself didn't yet exist in Lousy Anna other than a few miles witth the city limits. The section between Baton Rouge and Lafayette didn't open until the early 70s and the section between Baton Rouge and New Orleans didn't open until the mid-80s. So for the first litle while of the I-10 bridge being open, the outboard lanes were painted with angled, nose-in parking spaces so you could just watch the river traffic and then back out into the middle lane because there was so little traffic. And my maternal grandmother took very young me down to Baton Rouge especially to experience this. We crossed the bridge westbound, turned around, and parked at the exact center going eastbound and looking downstream. There, we ate our picnic lunch of PBJs while watching barges and ships moving along the river. And Grandma said, "Be sure to remember this. You'll never be able to stop up here and eat lunch again." Sadly, she was quite wrong there, as with today's traffic, you can be stopped and eat a prepared lunch EVERY DAMN DAY on this bridge due to the bottlenecks of traffic and the constant wrecks as a result. I've done that a few times in the decades since. Just without the nose-in parking spaces. And so, when I must cross the River in BTR, I use the HPL bridge on US 190 by preference.
Cool. Are the older thru-truss bridge piers better protected from errant river traffic than , oh say the one in Baltimore that is-no-more?
I cross the Sunshine every day
GNO/HPLong bridges? Where dey at, ya heard me?
I've got a video all about them! ruclips.net/video/2H1wkzmCIcg/видео.html
What about the Plaquemine Ferry?
I knew I was going to miss some old ones, but how could I miss the obvious one I passed by when I recorded the video!
We do not need another rural bridge over the Mississippi River! We need more capacity for I-10 in Baton Rouge, or connectivity of I-10 west of Port Allen to the Sunshine Bridge and then back to I-10 and then I-12 east of Denham Springs. Also finish I-49 through Lafayette, Morgan City and then back to New Orleans. The Bridge as proposed would be a waste of money in developing our existing infrastructure.
The bridge was orange b/c of the aluminum plant adjacent.
Kaiser aluminum
It's crazy how awful Baton Rouge traffic is. I realize they want to blame Katrina and it's true, but after 20 years there should be much more progress. Then you start to realize that anything around govt doesn't work correctly in Louisiana unless everyone gets paid and 100 different studies are done by everyone's cousin. It's sad because what used to be a great place is now just gridlock at all hours of the day.