When Gov. John Bel Edwards in January unveiled a $600 million package of major interstate improvement projects—including a $350 million widening of Interstate 10 through Baton Rouge from the base of the Mississippi River Bridge to the I-10/12 split—the local portion of the project was heralded as a long overdue solution to the Capital Region’s chronic gridlock.
But nearly nine months later, as the project moves through the federal planning process with surprising speed, the reality of what widening the interstate will mean is causing growing concern for the property and business owners in the literal shadow of I-10, Business Report details in a new feature.
Merchants in the Perkins Road overpass area—a historic corridor home to more than a dozen popular bars, restaurants and retailers—have been the most vocal because they stand to lose the most. Their small businesses are at ground zero of what will be a massive construction site.
But those who live near the City Park lakes—over which elevated portions of interstate will be completely replaced—are also worried, as are some community leaders in Old South Baton, where road patterns will be disrupted.
Such concerns have been verbalized before, when previous attempts to widen I-10 were floated. Unlike in the past, however, the state has the money to address what a frustrated population ranks as the Capital Region’s biggest problem: traffic congestion.
And there’s the rub. Residents throughout the region have been calling for traffic-relieving projects for decades—even if they don’t necessarily want to pay the taxes to fund many of them—yet those most likely to be impacted by the I-10 widening are saying there’s got to be a better way.
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