Baton Rouge, Louisiana

For the Canadian restaurant, see Baton Rouge (restaurant).

City of Baton Rouge
Downtown Baton Rouge Downtown Baton Rouge
Flag Official seal of City of Baton Rouge Seal
Nickname:  Red Stick
Motto:  Authentic Louisiana at every turn
Location of Baton Rouge in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
Country	United States
State	Louisiana
Parish	East Baton Rouge Parish
Founded	1699
Incorporated	16 January 1817
Government
• Mayor	Melvin "Kip" Holden (D)
Area
• City	79.1 sq mi (204.8 km2)
• Land	76.8 sq mi (199 km2)
• Water	2.2 sq mi (5.7 km2)  2.81%
Elevation	46 ft (14 m)
Population  (2006)
• City	229,553
• Density	2,964.7/sq mi (1,144.7/km2)
• Metro	751,965
Time zone	UTC-6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
Area code	225
Website	http://www.brgov.com

Baton Rouge (French: Bâton-Rouge Template:PronEng in English, and in French) is the capital city of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish which contains 412,000 residents. The Greater Baton Rouge population is approximately 770,000.

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 224,097 residents from flooding and other natural disasters. In addition to the natural protection, the city sports a levee system stretching from the bluff southward to protect the riverfront and the southern agricultural areas.

Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, and port 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 other capital cities in the United States, is called the "Capital Area."

History

Main article: History of Baton Rouge

Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville provided Baton Rouge as well as Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas their current names

Beginnings

Baton Rouge was established as a military post by the French in 1719. 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 baton 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.

Capital City Progresses

Old Louisiana State Capitol

Since European settlement, Baton Rouge has functioned under seven governing bodies: 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, 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 crenellations. 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 Shreveport, but it was returned to Baton Rouge in 1880.

Map of Baton Rouge in 1863

Modernization

Increased civic-mindedness and the arrival of the Louisville, New Orleans, and Texas Railroad led to the development of more forward-looking leadership, which included the construction of a new waterworks, widespread electrification of homes and businesses, and the passage of several large bond issues for the construction of public buildings, new schools, paving of streets, drainage and sewer improvements, and the establishment of a scientific municipal public health department.By the beginning of the twentieth century, the town had undergone significant industrial development as a result of its strategic location for the production of petroleum, natural gas, and salt. In 1909 the Standard Oil Company built a facility that proved to be a lure for other petrochemical firms. The New Louisiana State Capitol was built in 1932 by Huey P. Long and signaled the eventual growth of the city. Throughout World War II, these plants increased production for the war effort and contributed to the growth of the city.

Today

Capitol Building.

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 population and technology. Baton Rouge is now one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the U.S. (under 1 million), with 600,000 in 2000 and 700,000 since 2000. 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".

Crime

With the exception of murder, all other major crimes reported to Baton Rouge police in 2007 were down compared with 2006, according to statistics released in January 2008. Compared with 2006, the number of major crimes in 2007 dropped 8 percent, statistics show. Crimes against people — murder, rape, robbery and assault — fell 12 percent compared with 2006. Crimes against property — burglary, larceny, arson and motor vehicle theft — declined 7 percent. The number of people killed each year in the city between 2000 and 2006 has ranged from 100 to 150 but murder rose 29 percent from 121 in 2006 to 152 last year. The number of murders in 2007 is two shy of a 1993 high of 190.

Geography and climate

File:Brsatellite.JPG

A satellite image of Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge is located at 30°27′29″N 91°8′25″W (30.458090, -91.140229).Template:GR

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 U.S

Climate

Baton Rouge is humid-subtropical, with mild, short, wet, and somewhat warm winters and long, hot, humid, wet summers.

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 [1]

Disasters

Baton Rouge rarely suffers from natural disasters. Earthquakes are very rare (unlike farther north up the Mississippi River). The Mississippi River poses little threat to the highly populated sections of the city because Baton Rouge is built on natural bluffs at higher elevations than the river. However, the outlying areas near the Amite and Comite rivers are very easily flooded if already saturated by previous precipitation. Baton Rouge rarely sees tornadoes and storm surges are impossible because of its distance inland.

While hurricanes often affect the area, they rarely hit Baton Rouge at their full force due to the inland location. Instead, due to the projection of the Louisiana peninsula into the Gulf of Mexico, storms tend to hit that part of the state then steer northward. Storms that head on a more westerly route tend to upswing sharply, angling more toward the western coastal areas, from Morgan City to the Acadiana parishes. The last hurricane to threaten the city with a direct hit was Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which missed the city and took a direct path through the Atchafalaya Basin, some forty miles west of the city. Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita in 2005 followed this pattern as well, with Katrina veering east to New Orleans and eastward and Rita striking the Lake Charles, Louisiana area and the state's western border with Texas.

Economy

Baton Rouge is the farthest inland port that can process deep ocean tankers and cargo carriers. Baton Rouge is where those ships transfer their load (grain, crude, cars, containers) onto rail and pipeline to travel either east-west or onto a barge to move good north-south. Deep draft vessels cannot pass the old Huey Long Bridge because it is too low, and the river gets shallow near Port Hudson.

Baton Rouge's biggest industry is in petrochemicals. ExxonMobil has the second largest refinery in the country here and among the top 10 in the world. It also has rail, highway, pipeline, and deep water access. Dow Chemical (formerly Union Carbide) 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 got started by working construction projects at these plants.

-Major Companies based in the Baton Rouge area include...

• Lamar Advertising

• The Shaw Group (Fortune 500 Company)

• Amedisys

• Albemarle (Recently moved headquarters to Baton Rouge from Richmond, Virginia.)

• Raising Cane's

Being the state capitol and the parish seat, the largest employer in Baton Rouge is the government, which recently consolidated all branches of the state government downtown in a complex called "Capitol Park".

The research hospitals of Our Lady of the Lake, Earl K. Long, as well as an emerging medical corridor at Essen Lane/Summa Avenue/Bluebonnet Boulevard that is poised to become an area similar to that of the Texas Medical Center.

Due to state and local tax credits for the film industry, Baton Rouge is positioning itself as "Hollywood South" along with Shreveport and New Orleans. The new Celtic Media Centre, which is Louisiana's first and only full service studio/sound stage, along with two other planned studios are being built to meet the needs of this growing industry.

Demographics

Baton Rouge Governmental Building

City of Baton Rouge Population by year [2]
1940	49,654
1950	125,629
1960	152,419
1970	165,963
1980	219,419
1990	219,531
2000	227,818
2004	224,097

As of the censusTemplate:GR 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.

-Due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 many agencies predict the local Hispanic/Latino population to double over the next several years as the rebuilding boom across the state continues.

There were 88,973 households out of which 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 age 65 or over.

Cityscape

The City of Baton Rouge & The Mississippi River

Tallest Buildings

Baton Rouge currently has several towers in the works. One project includes a 17 story office, another a 30+ story condominium tower to be the first towers built downtown in two decades.

File:Riverplace2.JPG

RiverPlace Condominiums

JP Morgan Chase Building and Riverside Tower

Name	Stories	Height
Louisiana State Capitol (tallest state capitol building in the U.S.)	34	460 ft (140 m)
RiverPlace Condominiums (groundbreaking Spring 2008)	30+
Riverfront Office Tower (proposed)	25
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)
Laurel Street Tower (on-hold)	19
Catholic-Presbyterian Apartments	14
Dean Tower	14
Two City Plaza (under construction)	14
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 Capital 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

Main article: Neighborhoods of Baton Rouge

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

Beauregard Town Bocage Broadmoor Brookstown Brownfields Capitol Heights Cedarcrest Centurion Place Country Club of Louisiana Gardere Garden District Goodwood

Glen Oaks Greendale Inniswold Jefferson Terrace LSU Lake Sherwood Acres Mall City Magnolia Woods Melrose Place Melrose Place East Mid-City Millerville Monticello

Oak Hills Place Old Jefferson Old South Baton Rouge Pollard Estates Northdale Santa Maria Scotlandville Shenandoah Shenandoah North Sherwood Forest

Spanish Town (Historic designation) Southdowns Tara University Club University Gardens University Hills University Lakes Wedgewood Westminster Village St. George Zion City

Culture

See also: Notable inhabitants of Baton Rouge

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. It is also a college town with college students from Baton Rouge Community College, Louisiana State University, 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 hertiages.

File:Shawcenter.jpg

Shaw Center for the Arts in Downtown

Religion

The population like much of the country has a very diverse background of faiths. Unlike New Orleans, which is relatively absent from the Bible Belt of the south, Baton Rouge retains much more in common with its Protestant neighbors while at the same time enjoys a very abundant Catholic culture as well.

Major Christian denominations include Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Full Gospel, Jehovah's Witness, Mormon, Presbyterian, and Pentecostal.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baton Rouge has more than 200,000 members as of 2000.

The Armenian Apostolic Church also has a presence in the city.

Many other faiths include Islam, Judaism, and Hindu.

Various Estimates for percentages...

• Christianity 70%

• Protestant 50%

• Catholic and Orthodox 20%

• Judaism 1%
• Islam 1%
• Hindu 1%
• Other 2%
• Non-Religious/Atheist 25%

Arts and Theatre

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 offering a range of local art are scattered throughout the city.

-Baton Rouge also hosts the annual Red Stick International Animation Festival every Spring downtown which showcases dozens of films from aspiring animated filmakers from around the world.

File:Baton rouge river center6.JPG

Baton Rouge RiverCenter in Downtown

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

Other venues for the arts, information on local artists and grassroots art projects occurring in Baton Rouge can be found through the city's arts events calendar provided by the non-profit organization CultureCandy at |url=http://www.culturecandy.org.

Events

See also: List of Events in Baton Rouge

Many events take place throughout the year, the biggest of which is Mardi Gras. Each March Baton Rouge host 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, 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: 225, LSU Daily Reveille, Tiger Weekly, 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 94th largest Designated Market Area (DMA) in the U.S., serving 317,550 homes and 0.282% of the U.S. Major television network affiliates serving the area include:

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

• 19 KZUP (IND)
• 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 and channel 21, Cox 4 on channel 4, and Catholic Life on channel 15.

See also: List of radio stations in Louisiana (Baton Rouge area)

Sports

Tiger Stadium at Louisiana State University

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.

Tourism and Recreation

See also: Points of Interest of Baton Rouge

There are many architectural points of interest in Baton Rouge, ranging from antebellum to modern. The neo-gothic Old Louisiana State Capitol was orignally built in the 1890's as the first state house in Baton Rouge and was latter 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 contemporay 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.

Nottoway Plantation Located near White Castle, Louisiana

Museum 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), a trip to the local amusement parks of Dixie Landin'/ Blue Bayou, or dining at any number of the revered Louisiana cuisine restaurants.

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools

East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools, the city's school district, is one of the area's largest school districts. It contains approximately 90 individual schools: 56 elementary schools, 16 middle schools, and 18 high schools.

Louisiana State University operates the Louisiana State University Laboratory School, a K-12 school.

The state of Louisiana directly operates two special schools for children with disabilities:

• Louisiana School for the Deaf
• Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired

Other notable High schools in the parish include: Robert E. Lee High School

Private Schools

• Baton Rouge International School
• Parkview Baptist School
• University Laboratory School (LSU)
• Southern University Laboratory School
• St. Joseph's Academy
• The Dunham School
• Redemptorist High School
• Episcopal High School
• Catholic High School
• St. Michael the Archangel High School (formerly Bishop Sullivan High school)
• Baton Rouge Christian Classical School
• Runnels School
• Most Blessed Sacrament School
• St. Thomas More School
• St. Jude the Apostle School
• Sacred Heart of Jesus School
• St. Louis King of France School
• Our Lady of Mercy School
• St. Jean Vianney School
• St. George School
• St. Aloysius School
• Gables Academy
• St. Luke's Episcopal Day School
• Christian Life Academy
• Cypress Heights Academy

Colleges and Universities

• Louisiana State University
• Southern University
• Baton Rouge Community College
• Our Lady of the Lake College
• Baton Rouge General Medical Center School of Nursing
• Baton Rouge General Medical Center School of Radiologic Technology
• Louisiana Technical College (Baton Rouge campus)
• Louisiana Tech University
• Louisiana Culinary Institute
• ITI Technical College
• University of Phoenix (Baton Rouge campus)
• World Evangelism Bible College and Seminary

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 - 3600 Florida Boulevard
• Baton Rouge General Medical Center Bluebonnet - 8585 Picardy Avenue
• Benton Rehabilitation Hospital - 7660 Convention Street
• Earl K. Long Medical Center (LSUMC) - 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

Electricity services for Baton Rouge are provided by Entergy, and DEMCO. Waste pickup is provided by Allied Waste Services, formally BFI.

National Guard

Baton Rouge is home station to the 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

File:Baton rouge mississippi bridge.JPG

Interstate 10 crossing the Mississippi River

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 Dr. & Highland Rd.(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 Hwy. 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 Highway.

The metropolitan area is served by Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, located in north of Baton Rouge, between Baton Rouge and Baker. It's going through an expansion to improve the facility and offer better flight choices.

File:BR Loop.JPG

Proposed bypass routes

Public transit by bus is provided by the Capitol Area Transit System.CATS offer 17 routes that provide transportation to various parts of the city. CATS operates a special trolley that run for free in the downtown area.

LA Swift is a bus service that provides transportation between Baton Rouge, New Orleans, with stops in Sorrento & LaPlace

A circumferential loop freeway has been proposed for the greater Baton Rouge metro area due to increasing congestion on the existing through-town freeways and the lack of a freeway quality bypass. 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.

Sister cities

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

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

External links

• Official Baton Rouge Government Web Site
• Baton Rouge Retrospective: history in photographs and postcards

Authorities

• Baton Rouge Police Department
• Louisiana State Police
• Baton Rouge Guide

News sources

• The Advocate (Baton Rouge)
• WBRZ
• WAFB
• WVLA
• WGMB