I need your help, and time is short. Attached, below, or on the BRBC yahoo group is the text of a letter to demand that Pinnacle to build a levee top trail along River Road. If Pinnacle completes their project, rural River Road cycling will be a memory, except south of Gardere Lane.

If we want accomodation for the distruption Pinnacle will bring, please fill out your name and address, and sign it, and either send it to the councilman, bring it to the public information meeting 6-8 PM Thursday 16 August at the Bluebonnet library, or send it to me and I will bring it to the meeting.

I am addressing the letter to Councilman Culbertson because the project is in his district (3), and the Metro council can add this type of stipulation to the project.

Bruce Wickert
P. O. Box 52708
Baton Rouge, LA 70892
____________________________

Name: _______________________________
Address: _______________________________
City/State: _______________________________
16 August 2007

Dr. Pat Culbertson
17527 West Lakeway Drive
Baton Rouge, LA 70810

Dr. Culbertson:
It has come to my attention that Pinnacle Entertainment is proposing to build an entertainment complex adjacent to River Road between Gardere Lane and Ben Hur Rd.

This part of River Road has been the site of frequent bicycle use because of its rural character (low traffic) and proximity to Baton Rouge. On any given day, hundreds of cyclists use this route. It is popular enough that River Road between Downtown and the Plaquemine ferry has been designated a bike route and is marked with signs indicating to drivers that bike riders are likely to be encountered. This designation was made after a series of crashes killed three cyclists in 2002.

Per the Pinnacle commissioned traffic study by ABMB Engineering, the Pinnacle project will increase the southbound traffic on River Road from 290 cars per hour to 488 during the afternoon peak. The northbound increase from 81 cars per hour to 296 is even more dramatic. This shift makes sharing the road safely more of a challenge for motorists and cyclists alike, due to the higher traffic loads and 55 MPH rural speed limit.

To accommodate the cyclists, it is essential that the existing levee top trail be extended from Farr Park to South of Gardere Lane and included as part of the Pinnacle Entertainment project. A 10 ft wide levee top trail will meet the needs of most cyclists and improve River Road for car traffic. The trail will provide extension of the linear park like facility that the 2006 trail from Downtown to Skip Bertman Dr has become.

The Wall Street Journal recently had an article describing “cycling” as the next “golf” for business, which makes this trail a logical fit as part of the Pinnacle development as much as the proposed golf course.

To assure that Pinnacle complies with this community need, I want to have the Metro Council impose additional boarding fees until the project is complete, similar to what was done until the Belle of Baton Rouge completed its promise to build an associated hotel.

Please let me know how I can help.

Signed:___________________________