While there’s been much discussion about the pending plan to widen Interstate 10 through Baton Rouge, the $360 million earmarked for the project is not expected to cover all four phases of the work.
Following a speech to the Baton Rouge Rotary Club today, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Shawn Wilson said state officials are confident the first two phases of the project—first widening and replacing the aging elevated portions of the highway from the I-10/I-110 merge to the City Park Lakes, then replacing the bridges over the lakes—can be completed within four years using federal Grant Anticipation Revenue, or GARVEE bonds.
But the money may not be enough to fund the third phase—which would extend from the east shore of the lakes to College Drive—or the fourth, a flyover ramp that would tie in to College Drive from the I-10/I-12 split.
“We’re talking about being at that point (phase three) some four years down the road and we don’t know what construction costs are going to be by then, or what cost estimates will be for steel, concrete, those kinds of things,” Wilson says. “Let’s say that third phase is going to cost me $150 million and we only have $100 million left? Then we can’t start on it.”
Alternately, Wilson says contractors might be able to do the fourth phase of the project, before the third, if they have enough money to do so.
“There’s flexibility in how we can do this,” he says.
Prior to his comments, Wilson said in his speech to the Rotarians—as he has before—that the state already owns 95% of the right of way it needs to undertake the 3.5-mile widening project, and that just four businesses and 19 residences will be severely impacted.
Some of those property owners are among the restaurants and retailers near and under the interstate in the Perkins Road overpass neighborhood. Wilson reiterated the state’s commitment to try to mitigate the impact on those property owners.
Given the questions about funding, however, it could be several years before they really have to worry about it, as they wouldn’t be affected until the state begins to work on phase three of the project.
“Phase three is absolutely four years away because in order for me to provide immediate utility I’ve got to get through phases one and two first, and the new bridges over the lakes will be complicated in terms of managing the traffic flow while construction is underway,” Wilson said.
Wilson said recognizing that $360 million will not cover the entire project is not a departure from what he and Gov. John Bel Edward said at a January press conference, when first announcing the project.
“We said the $360 million would cover a significant portion of the project, not the entire project,” he says. “Is phase one and two and maybe a flyover ramp at College Drive a significant portion? I think so.”
