After two months of drastically reduced traffic, several parishwide road and highway projects have seen significant progress. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be finished any sooner.
Some projects have sped up. One example in Baton Rouge is the road construction on Perkins Road, between Essen Lane and Acadian Thruway. While originally scheduled to be finished in October, DOTD communications director Rodney Mallett says the project could now wrap later this summer, depending on the weather.
“Because of the reduced traffic, we were able to extend our hours,” Mallett says. “We usually don’t like to cause congestion during peak hours, but over the past two months we could work during the day and have lane closures.”
Other projects, however, won’t see the same shortened timelines.
In January, DOTD officials told Daily Report the so-called Government Street “road diet”—an $11.7 million undertaking—was halfway done and on track to be complete by the end of 2020. As of this morning, that timeline hasn’t changed, despite the fact that more crew members are now working on the project five days a week and fewer cars have been on the road.
That’s mostly because more work was added to the project, such as an additional base from Eugene Street to I-110 and sidewalk repairs, says Mallett. Moreover, he says Government already had lane closures in place, meaning the project timeline wouldn’t have necessarily benefited from the minimized traffic.
“Work [on Government] has progressed throughout the stay-at-home order,” Mallett says. “All projects are different.”
Still, the pandemic-related restrictions did allow the contractor to work during the day along Government between North Foster Drive and Jefferson Boulevard, where it started installing the underground irrigation system and constructing the splitter islands at the Jefferson intersection. Traffic signals have also been replaced, along with sidewalks, drives and handicap ramps. Significantly, a roundabout at Government’s intersection with Lobdell Avenue and Independence Boulevard is being built in phases.
Once complete, a 4-mile stretch of Government will include one travel lane in each direction with two-way-left turn availability in a center lane, as well as sidewalk improvements with ADA accessible ramps and bicycle lanes in each direction.
Meanwhile, the I-10 widening from Highland Road to the La. 73 interchange—which will extend I-10 from four lanes to six along the 6.5-mile segment of the interstate—is now expected to wrap by the end of the year, pushed back from its previous spring 2020 target completion. Mallett attributes the expected delay to weather. It’s not immediately clear when the timeline was pushed back.
