UL Lafayette: CDW: Breaux Bridge: Introduction

				Breaux Bridge: Introduction


				NEXT PAGE TOPICS introduction rees street civic park downtown main street railroad street neighborhoods	Breaux Bridge, a rural town of approximately 7,500 residents, is situated along the Bayou Teche and is composed of a distinguished downtown area and a developed natural landscape. Bayou Teche separates the city into two areas. The eastern section is composed of the traditional French organized grid with tree-lined streets and unique architecture. The other part developed along with Interstate 10, built in the mid-1970s, is primarily a strip of urban development and undefined fringe.With this in mind, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (then-USL) Community Design Workshop developed three design strategies to further develop Breaux Bridge into a more modern, urban city. The Workshop set up a working office and studio space in the Teche News Building during the summer of 1998. This space allowed the Workshop to interact more closely with the public, as well as gave them a place to design various strategies for the town of Breaux Bridge. The three proposed strategies developed included development of public spaces and civic buildings, protection of history and introduction of new design on each side of Bayou Teche. Breaux Bridge is a city of complex arrangements with varied layouts of street designs. The Workshop chose to look at each arrangement in order to collect and analyze the data obtained. In order to gather the information to develop a full perspective of the town, the Workshop completed physical readings, as well as held public discussions and charrettes to develop community involvement. Physical readings allowed the city to be viewed as a disengaged entity, which provided an opportunity to look at the area as an abstract, total figure. The engaged entity provided a view that included photographs produced into typology catalogs and the documentation of specific details, such as roofs, windows, doors, materials and vegetation. All of this information aided in the construction of drawings that gave those involved a more involved sense of character, detail and scale of the community. Public discussions allowed for more interactions with the Breaux Bridge community and provided an opportunity to exchange ideas about the city, as well as ideas concerning urban design. The charrettes held became part of the public process, whereby ideas were taken from public meetings and were analyzed more carefully. City officials, residents, downtown merchants and others attended the informative charrettes that addressed issues such as planning, urbanism, architecture, streetscape strategies, as well as the impact of the automobile in relation to parking, pedestrian spaces and landscape design. The design of tree-line streets and green spaces in Breaux Bridge developed from the French Long Lot organization currently noted in the town. The French Long Lot gave early settlers access to major markets through the bayou. It was difficult to design around this because of the limitations created by the Long Lots and the bayou because of a limited number of crossings. The introduction of the interstate in the 1970s introduced additional problems, as well. From the noted problems, the Workshop concentrated on creating a more efficient gridiron system with tree-lined streets and developing new green spaces while enhances those already in existence. The interstate became a focal point for new development, thus new roads were proposed included arterial, collector and local streets designed with tree-lined sidewalks and bike paths. This allowed for pedestrian and automobile street access across the French Long Lot, which was once a problem. Rees Street is the "strip" of Breaux Bridge that connects the city to the interstate and serves as a commercial district. Land use plans developed included the gradual reduction of building size and scale as one nears the downtown area, as well as tree-lined streets that would accommodate more landscaping and sidewalks. Parking lots would be reduced, as well, and designed to provide additional shade and green space. The boulevards and connector streets of Breaux Bridge are those that sustain heavy traffic and link adjacent areas of the city together. These streets would be tree-lined, as well, with bike paths and sidewalks that are well lit. The Boulevard could be planted with Crepe and other shrubs. The expansion of Champagne Boulevard would provide additional automobile and pedestrian access throughout the town, as well as reduce the traffic flow to Rees Street. Service roads would represent an initial impression of Breaux Bridge from the interstate, causing design to consider landscaping and lighting techniques. The design allowed for large commercial development restricted to that area alone, as well as proper signage requirements and parking code that would limit the barren landscape and vertical clutter. Traffic issues in the downtown areas and within neighborhoods was an issue revealed through public meetings and charrettes. Design ideas included building additional bridges across Bayou Teche as well as additional service roads that would alleviate the traffic strain on Rees Street. Green space and civic development became centered on the expansion of the Parc Hardy and Civic Center Complex, including the expansion of the park grounds and filling the reservoir to allow for additional recreational space. This would also accommodate the space needed for the annual Crawfish Festival, including parking for automobiles and recreational vehicles. The Civic Center Complex is divided into two buildings, the first being the Breaux Bridge Community Civic Center Complex, which hosts the Grande Ballroom. The second is the Performing Arts Building, which includes an auditorium space that could accommodate functions, such as school plays, band and dance recitals, as well as various other functions. Parc des Ponts de Pont Breaux was redesigned to give the park more definition and to connect it to the downtown area. Automobile and recreational vehicle parking was developed, as well as walking paths and the development of a river walk. Other park ideas included the transformation of the abandoned sugar mill property and the development of the City Park. Also considered were a railroad park plan, which included landscape lighting and a walking path that would link neighborhoods together, neighborhood parks that would set aside areas of recreation and leisure and a nature trail to Lake Martin, which included a two-mile hike in a natural setting. The downtown area of Breaux Bridge is the primary commercial district. Four design strategies were developed, including urban infill, reoccupying vacant buildings, redesign of the facades of some buildings and preservation of the historic district. Neighborhoods were redesigned with more dense land use for housing while allowing additional space for parks. Four different neighborhood designs were approached. The first, at Railroad Street and Dauterive Street, included infill design with additional setbacks, sidewalks and housing designed with front porches. The second major design was really three different strategies for a Rees Street neighborhood development. The first included expanding streets to break larger blocks into smaller neighborhoods composed of small lots with two-story homes. The second proposal expands the commercial district and allows for areas of more formal housing with parking situated into courtyards, allowing the larger buildings to create a buffer zone between the neighborhood and the interstate. The third proposal creates four separate neighborhoods, each with its own park. The housing types graduate to larger and more rural sized lots at a delineated edge of the city. The lots increase in size and eventually merge into the countryside. This design promotes a more efficient land use policy, yet protects the rural landscape. The ultimate goal of the Community Design Workshop was to emphasize effective design for the qualities within this small town's architecture and landscape. With input from the residents of Breaux Bridge, the workshop developed strategies concerned with tree-lined streets and public spaces, regeneration of downtown and neighborhoods and the development of neighborhoods that foster a sense of community.


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Document last revised Thursday, April 22, 2004 9:48 AM