Ribbon cutting opens new lanes on I-12

Thousands of Livingston Parish commuters, among others, now have the luxury of an extra lane both ways on Interstate 12. Gov. Bobby Jindal this afternoon cut the ribbon on the newly widened 5.2-mile stretch from O’Neal Lane to Juban Road, just east of Denham Springs. The project took roughly three years to complete, and the construction zone was the site of many an overturned 18-wheeler and frustrating delays. Crews built new bridges over the Amite River and updated interchanges, exits and on-ramps. The price tag: $146.2 million. Says DOTD Secretary Sherri LeBas: “Six new lanes of interstate will provide much-needed congestion relief and a tremendous safety benefit to the 85,000 motorists traveling this segment daily.” Those who live east of the Juban Road exit won’t revel in the relief for long: Concrete barriers have been erected and preliminary work has already begun on the I-12 stretch from Juban Road to the Satsuma exit. Targeted completion date for that $21.9 million project is mid-2013.