It is a struggle a lot of people in Baton Rouge and surrounding areas have to deal with on a daily basis. At peak times of the day, I-10 at Washington Street can be one of the most congested parts of the interstate in the capital area.
“At some point, we were passing the interstate, where I-10 comes down to one lane, and the governor reached over and said ‘Mr. President, you see, right here is the greatest example of the problem we have, Interstate 10, from California to Florida, comes down to one lane right here,'” explained Congressman Cedric Richmond. “I think that was a great wake up call.
Congressman Richmond said that was part of the catalyst to get a $60 million grant from the federal government to help fix the I-10 traffic problems.
“Twenty to 25 million of that is going to be spent constructing a new off ramp in the vicinity of the Washington Street exit to alleviate that merge problem that is causing so much of the congestion that bottleneck for the traffic, that’s moving east across the Mississippi River Bridge,” said Governor John Bel Edwards.
The Washington Street exit will move, but there are still some different ideas being tossed around. The most prominent one is to make a left exit ramp on I-110 southbound in that area.
“I’m hoping that this first start, moving the ramp from Washington Street, not only are folks in the top of the bottom, I should say, because that’s where I grew up right by the interstate, and look for means to be able to make that connection,” said State Representative Pat Smith.
This is just the beginning for this project, DOTD officials said it could take five to seven years before it’s finished.
The rest of the federal grant will go to other projects like adding lanes and widening parts of I-10.
However, the question is, will it work? We want to know what you think, so tell us on our Facebook pages. The links are below:
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