A transit plan in name only

Owen Courreges writing about proposed revisions to a couple of major crosstown thoroughfares suggests that some neighborhoods are becoming "landlocked" in the process.

Presently, if I want to drive to the Marigny and points further East, I usually take the Claiborne Expressway or South Rampart.  I could certainly go through the Quarter, but that’s generally a nightmare.  I could also go further north, but reaching a road north of the expressway would be a major detour.  The options are pretty well limited.

For some inexplicable reason, plans are being made to kill both the expressway and Rampart as useful thoroughfares for vehicular traffic.

Owen comes at this a little differently from the way I do.  I don't think either of these projects is driven by a policy objective (or, has he jokingly calls it, a conspiracy) to make driving less convenient.. or to keep Uptowners in Uptown.. or to keep Owen in Uptown.

I do think they're motivated more by real estate development plans than they are by transit strategy, though. And I tend to agree with Owen's assessment of their negative impact in that regard.