BATON ROUGE —-The I-10/ Pecue Lane Interchange Project in Baton Rouge started in 2017 and the third and final phase for the estimated $122.6 million is underway now.
According to the Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD), ground was broken to celebrate the start of Phase 3 in January 2023.
Phase III
According to DOTD, Phase III will:
- Widen Pecue Lane from two to four travel lanes between Perkins Road and Airline Highway.
- Reconstruct the KCS railroad crossing to provide a smoother crossing over the railroad crossing and construct pedestrian sidewalks on the west side of Pecue Lane.
- Replace the Ward Creek bridge.
- Extend Rieger Road to intersect with Pecue Lane.
- Construct the on/off ramps to I-10 and finally open the DDI to traffic, which will be the second of its kind in the state.
The project is expected to reduce congestion on Highland Road & Siegen Lane and provide direct insterstate access to Industriplex Boulevard and Woman’s Hospital.
The expected completion date for all the work is early 2026, but that could change depending on the weather or other delays.
The utility relocations are scheduled to be completed in mid-October.
DOTD says the contractor has started work on the eastbound and westbound on/off ramps. Crews also started installing drainage for the ramps and removing the existing I-10 eastbound and westbound bridges over Ward’s Creek that need to be widened for the on/off ramps.
Phase I
The first phase involved clearing and grubbing the land. It began in June 2017 and was completed in Summer 2018.
Right-of-way acquisition and construction of phase 1, the clearing and grubbing phase, was $12.8 million.
Phase II
DOTD says the second phase, contracted out to James Construction, consisted of building mechanically stabilized earth walls (or MSE walls) on both sides of I-10 and replacing the existing two lane bridge with two multi-lane bridges.
Officials say Phase II was funded by state dollars and federal funds from 2018 dispersed by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The construction on phase II began August 2019 and was completed December 2022, according to DOTD. Phase II was $17.4 million.
The project’s estimated completion is 2026.
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