Work is expected to begin in May on a new Interstate 10 overpass at Pecue Lane, WBRZ-TV reports state and local transportation officials as saying.
Construction on the Pecue Lane overpass is part of a larger project to widen from two to four lanes the road between Perkins Road and Airline Highway and connect it to the interstate.
A wider overpass will be built just to the south of the existing bridge with work expected to last about a year and a half, says East Baton Rouge Parish Transportation and Drainage Director Fred Raiford.
Raiford estimates 10,000 vehicles use the Pecue Lane overpass daily and the goal is to not have drivers be forced to detour around construction as did those in Ascension Parish last summer when the Bluff Road interstate overpass was closed for an upgrade.
Raiford says the entire project could be completed in three and half years.
The overpass is part of some 16 unfinished projects under the Green Light Plan, according to program manager CSRS. Program work has slowed in recent years as bond money dried up, meaning the program funding is now limited to annual tax appropriations, or what’s known as the pay-as-you-go model.
Nearly all of the remaining projects have been moved into the new MovEBR roads tax plan, which voters passed Dec. 8. Those include the Picardy-Perkins connector and Pecue Lane interchange, as well as improvements to McHugh Road, Hooper Road, Old Hammond Highway and Nicholson Drive. The goal is to put the Green Light projects on the MovEBR priority list and finish them as soon as possible, Raiford told Daily Report in December.
