Shreveport's Terrible Infrastructure

This is an analysis of Shreveport's crippling bad infrastructure and the politics behind it.

            Shreveport residence know well the decrepit state of their city’s infrastructure. Roads are in terrible state, most areas do not have sidewalks and the mass transit system borderline doesn’t exist. This problem is most apparent to those who don’t have cars. Shreveport is un-survivable to those who don’t have an automobile because of how car heavy the infrastructure is. This car heavy infrastructure makes any movement impossible as highways form walls keeping walker/bicyclist from one area out. This article is written by a Shreveport citizen who has been biking, walking and using the mass transit for the past half-decade. I will give my perspective on the infrastructure problem, how I envision Shreveport’s infrastructure and briefly the politics that keep Louisiana’s infrastructure poor.

Sidewalks

Sidewalks are major problem almost everywhere in this city. They either don’t exist in many neighborhoods or they exist in pieces. This can be observed in many residential areas and commercial areas like Youree, which don’t have sidewalks and part of Allendale, Highland, Linwood, etc. which have pieces of sidewalk every few meters. For example, going from LSUS to the Walmart on Youree/Kings Highway is virtually impossible without a car even though the two locations are only a few meters apart. In many residential neighborhood’s citizens must walk in the streets in order to get from one place to another in their own neighborhood. There is also a very limited number of crosswalks. Many areas around Mansfield road, Youree Drive, Line avenue and Kings highway are un-crossable and those with cross walks sometimes have broken lights and very short timers. Even if there is a well-functioning cross walk driver will still turn while there are pedestrians. Without good sidewalks, the many thousands of people who don’t own cars are stranded  and are practically segregated from other parts of the city.

Bicycle infrastructure

The bicycle infrastructure of the city is completely abysmal. There are a few bicycle paths downtown and around highland but that’s it. There are no other bicycle paths that go to major commercial areas nor are there any that go to most residential areas. In order to go to any major commercial areas like Mansfield or Youree Drive bicyclist need to ride with the cars, going 60 miles an hour. Since these areas lack critical sidewalks and other pedestrian infrastructure, riding on the road is the only option. The risk to this is obvious as most who have driven on major intersections and streets know. Many cars will come close to hitting you and the roads are in terrible condition along with the few existing sidewalks. Some roads might as well be dirt roads, with jagged pieces of concrete poking out, potholes, frequently flooded areas, frequent cracks and debris from cars and car accidents.

Mass Transit

The mass transit system is marginally better than other forms of infrastructure. After using the bus system for 6 years I, along with any who ride the bus, will say it is very sub-par. Bus stops are very far from each other in some areas and stop in locations that are cur off during the evening hours. For example, the highland route does not function on Sundays and after five pm.  Waiting times are also a problem with buses frequently running late and even normal waiting times being more than an hour. There is also a critical shortage of seats at many bus stops. This making the long waiting times more uncomfortable than they must be. There’s also a lot of what makes the bus system terrible isn’t the fault of how the bus system is organized but the fault of the surrounding infrastructure. There are no sidewalks near most bus station, it’s very difficult to walk across many of the streets the buses stop at, many of the stops do not have adequate covering encase it rains and trash is everywhere because the trashcans are always overfilled. The buses themselves lack an ability to pay by card, which is a problem since cash payment is becoming more obsolete. If you do pay by cash, but you do not have exact change, then that’s it. There is no change dispenser, which causes way more of a headache than it should be.   

What Is To Be Done

These conditions are not inevitable, actions taken by our local and state government can build a decent public transport system. Multiple campaigns could be organized to get more people to bike and take public transit while state an local government invest more in mass public transit. More bike lanes can be built along major roads and many minor roads, a sidewalk construction project can be undertaken, and a large public transport jobs program can be undertaken by state, local and federal government. All this requires a lot of deviation from the Neo-liberal ideology of free market dogma and a more Keynesian way of thinking about the state and public infrastructure. Neither political party has any interested in giving people decent infrastructure and a mass transit system. As shown in New Orleans after Katrina, the goal is the privatization of every aspect of life and the individualization of the previously collective nature of transport. This means that any push for good infrastructure needs to be organized, popular and one that goes against the Washington consensus. For even basic measures to be taken to address the decrepit condition, there needs to be a revolution.