Welcome To Baton Rouge SAFeDATA

In the 2000s, Baton Rouge has proven to be one of the quicklyest growing cities in the South, not so much in populus but in technology. Baton Rouge is well wired, and ranks #19 as one of the most wired cities (more wired than New Orleans, and most of the 25 largest cities in the US) There are now many sky-eye traffic cameras at major intersections and countless other advances. Although, Baton Rouge`s city populus was not growing quickly, it has overtaken Mobile, Alabama, Shreveport, and many other currently declining cities. After the 2000 census, Baton Rouge had a slight decline in populus, with 224,000 from recent estimates. This is attributed by some to white flight.

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast with failed levees flooding much of New Orleans and areas of Mississippi. Although the damage was comparatively minor compared to New Orleans (generally light to moderate except for fallen trees), Baton Rouge experienced power outages and service disruptions due to the hurricane. In addition, the city provided refuge for residents from New Orleans. Baton Rouge served as a headquarters for Federal (on site) and State emergency coordination and disaster relief in Louisiana.

As a result, by August 31, TV station WAFB had reported that the city`s populus had more than doubled from about 228,000 to at least 450,000 and East Baton Rouge Parish`s populus shot up to almost 600,000 since the mandatory evacuation had been issued. That day, Mayor-President Kip Holden was expected to host a conference to discuss how to actually enroll evacuated children into the East Baton Rouge Parish public school system. During late 2005 and half of 2006 traffic in the city was more congested to the point of hours long stand stills since the evacuation of the Gulf South but since then traffic is on somewhat normal levels for a parish that had 412,000 pre-Katrina residents.

Crime in Baton Rouge is higher than the national avg. In 2005, the city`s murder rate was higher than many of the largest U.S cities, ranking 13th out of U.S cities its size, with 49 murders. There were a total of 56 homicides in 2006.

There were plans of extending I-110 to a Nern,southern, and western loop/bypass for the Baton Rouge area.

Recently, many have proposed extending New Orleans`s public transit system by adding light rail routes from downtown along Airline Highway through the airfield to Baton Rouge.