MSY I-10 interchange plans to be explained at public meeting

Louisiana has decided how it wants to modify the Interstate 10 interchange at Loyola Drive in Kenner to funnel traffic to and from the new passenger terminal at Louis Armstrong International Airport. The state Department of Transportation and Development plans to explain its design preference at a public meeting Tuesday (Nov. 20).

The department says it has chosen what it calls Alternative I, one of three finalists it considered for the interchange. It envisions adding three one-way elevated ramps from:

Westbound I-10 to southbound Aberdeen Street, the southern extension of Loyola. An official illustration indicates the ramp would be elevated at Veterans Memorial Boulevard.

Northbound Aberdeen to eastbound I-10, also over Veterans.

Southbound Loyola to eastbound I-10. This ramp would mainly serve residents and businesses in north Kenner, not the airport.



Still, it will be 2020 at the earliest before the Loyola interchange construction even begins.

Alternative I would cost an estimated $147.2 million, need more than 7¼ acres and eliminate 18 buildings, according to Transportation Department estimates. That’s the least land and fewest buildings of the three finalist alternatives.

They eliminated:

Alternative E which was estimated to cost $292 million, eliminate 207 buildings, and needed 36 acres.

Alternative L which was estimated to cost $139 million, eliminate 63 buildings, and needed 12 acres.

NOLA