Green Light Plan

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Facing greater traffic congestion within the Parish in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the City of Baton Rouge/East Baton Rouge Parish introduced the Green Light Plan in October 2006. The plan encompasses 42 road improvement projects in the Parish, including new roads, widenings, traffic signalization upgrades and synchronization, Complete Streets initiatives, and intersection improvements. In 2005, voters approved an extension of a half-cent sales tax for local street and roadway improvements and gave the City/Parish the ability to bond future revenue. Seventy percent of the resulting sales tax revenue is devoted to transportation improvements. This has enabled the City/Parish to issue over $300 million in bonds and begin projects proactively, rather than waiting until sufficient tax revenues became available. The revenue from the sales tax millage allowed the local government to embark upon the most significant transportation improvement program in the Parish's history. The tax will remain in effect until 2030. A proposal to extend the existing tax through 2046 and initiate a new $452 million Green Light Plan 2 failed in a December 2016 referendum.

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