All major interstates in Baton Rouge remain closed for the second straight day, and state officials don’t have a clear picture of when they might reopen.
State workers are out on the frozen interstates, laying down deicing solution and scraping them with bobcats, says Department of Transportation and Development spokesman Rodney Mallett, adding the state hopes to have them reopened sometime today.
“We’ve been deicing but once you get to this point even that doesn’t work,” he says. “Now we’re going to bring out some bobcats and do some scraping.”
The bout of wintry weather has crippled the region this week, with the Mississippi River Bridge, I-10, I-12 and I-110 all remaining closed today after freezing precipitation blanketed the state.
In Livingston Parish, which relies heavily on I-12 for its distribution and logistics industry, motorists are making due with the roads that are open, says Livingston Economic Development Council President David Bennett.
“Companies are trying to find a way to get their products moving, and it looks like they’re using (U.S.) 190 to move them,” he says.
Bennett says he saw Pepsi trucks from its major distribution facility in Livingston traveling on U.S. 190 this morning, and there appeared to be some truck activity at Martin Brower’s Walker facility as well.
The Port of Greater Baton Rouge, located just over the bridge in Port Allen, has felt the impact of the shutdown, says port director Jay Hardman. The port offices have remained closed Wednesday and today, and there has been a 30% to 40% drop in traffic at the port as cargo is unable to be transported via truck. I-10 is closed between Lafayette and Slidell.
Crescent River Pilots, which navigates between New Orleans and the Gulf, is still not moving vessels this morning after suspending operations on Wednesday. New Orleans Baton Rouge River Pilots also stopped taking orders but resumed this morning. Hardman says there’s been a slowdown as truck transport is virtually shuttered into the port.
“That’ll all catch up,” he says. “You’ll have a surge over the next two or three days.”
Some potentially good news is the weather could get warm enough to reopen interstates today. DOTD Secretary Shawn Wilson told WBRZ-TV that is takes five to six hours of sunshine and above-freezing temperatures to that frozen roadways. The Capital City is expected to see those conditions today.
Locally, at least a dozen roads remain closed, though Mayor Sharon Weston Broome tweeted the Siegen Lane overpass and South Acadian Thruway underpass reopened this morning, along with the N. 19th Street bridge over I-110.
See a full list of local road closures. Here’s where to track interstate closures.
—Sam Karlin
