re: I-10 widening between Baton Rouge and Prarieville on track to be completed Oct 26

If they made Hwy 30 into a 4 lane with a center median, and they built another bridge connecting Hwy 1 to Hwy 30, there is the loop.

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Cox Equipment building.

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That is Cox's head end for SBR. That building has been the holdup for that new interchange for a LONG damn time because it was a HUGE cost that Cox wasn't about to cough up .

While this is excellent news and will surely help some, I don't see why they didn't just put 4 lanes why they were doing construction. I don't foresee it making too much of a difference, especially when the bridge and the 10/12 split seems to be the real problem. A loop, or some sort of bypass, really could fix most of BR's interstate problems.

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Somehow, someway they have to build some sort of expressway connecting I-12 to Ascension. Having to take all those shitty backroads or going all the way to Essen to loop back on I-12 is ridiculous.

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100% agree. It's been in the works for years but I think both parish gov'ts have not taken it very seriously. Would be a HUGE financial boon for the area immediately connected to it

ahh, I was wondering what that was that should definitely help alleviate some traffic. As someone said above, it is crazy that people are having to come from Gonzales and Prarieville all the way to Essen or the split to get on to i12 to go to any of those exits/Denham.

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Maybe for two weeks. Induced demand is a very real thing, not to mention this project should have happened 15 years ago.

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Prediction: Traffic will remain just as bad, just a few miles further up the road.

These widening projects never work as intended. They only lead to buildups in other areas, and then we start talking about adding yet another lane in a few years. Why don't we just 20 lane everything? That'll fix it!

And yes, the HWY 42 project is a clusterfrick. Postponed more times than I can count. Proudly announced at the beginning of the year that it would be done in December 2020 (WAY behind schedule), only to be pushed to Spring 2021 a few weeks ago. Blamed Covid (when, if anything, that should have actually helped them since for about 3-4 months there was very little traffic because we were on lockdown).

I've said it before: Ascension Parish takes every opportunity to get more like EBR. I can't wait to GTFO.

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These widening projects never work as intended. They only lead to buildups in other areas, and then we start talking about adding yet another lane in a few years. Why don't we just 20 lane everything? That'll fix it!

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What are you suggesting? Not address current traffic needs in Baton Rouge so more $$ can be wasted on other crap?

Louisiana widens the highways in segments because that's what they can afford. In a few years, they'll widen it between Prarieville and Gonzales...and so on.

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Hell It should be 3 lanes between Houston and Mobile

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They are eventually going to widen I-10 to 8 lanes between downtown Baton Rouge and the I-10/12 split.

IMO, they really should consider a reversible HOV lane to make it 5/4 or 4/5 lane configuration depending on time of day. Unfortunately I think they are just planning to widen/replace the elevated sections rather than conjoining them.

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How about widening the bridge from one fricking lane to two for eastbound traffic

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The east side of the bridge is getting widened eventually. The state supposedly has earmarked a few hundred million for it, but IDK when they are going to get started on it. JBE is definitely in no hurry to help out the capital region.

As far as the I-10 bridge, the deck itself can't be widened.

I think they could incorporate a "road zipper" like this very cheaply though:



The I-10 bridge is 6 lanes wide (3 in either direction), but sometimes one direction needs to be more than 3 lanes, especially between the split and LA415. They've been using this zipper barriers in other states with a lot of success. In the mornings, they move the barriers over one lane to optimize capacity for the morning commute. In the afternoon, they do the opposite.

It would require modification to the bridge surface, but not a widening of the bridge. It would also require minor design changes to the approach of the bridge on either bank to handle additional traffic enabled by the road zipper.



A road zipper wouldn't eliminate the need for a new bridge somewhere in the southern Baton Rouge metro area. But it could help address the current traffic issues on the I-10 bridge.