re: What specific projects could alleviate traffic in Baton Rouge and New Orleans?

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Close the Washington Street exit

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The estimates are that it would cost $20 million to relocate it and continue the right hand I-10 lane for another 400 yards.

That's a fairly small project that has been ignored for 25 years....and it would have significant, immediate impact on traffic.

quote:

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Close the Washington Street exit in Baton Rouge, eliminating the merge to one lane on I-10 past the New Bridge eastbound.

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i don't mind being the sole downvote here. this is a very common misconception. you can't just close the exit and then suddenly the merge is gone. the issue is that you're coming from 2 lanes over the bridge, but at the washington exit, the rightmost lane is dropped. a much better design would be keeping that right lane going and not dropping, that way you'd have 2 continuous lanes over the bridge and through the split. but in order to do that, you would have to widen the interstate after the exit.

if DOTD barricaded off the exit today, you would still have to merge over into the left lane if you were in the right lane, and it would still effectively be just one lane at the split.