BATON ROUGE – The first lane closures related to expansion work on I-10 through Baton Rouge will begin in a few days.

The closures are brief, overnight and not necessarily for actual demolition or dirt work but proof some sort of traffic relief might be on the horizon. Construction is still more than a year away.

One lane will be closed in each direction from the I-10/12 split to Perkins Road from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. The closures are for surveying work.

Ross Wilson, Forte & Tablada, Inc., are handling the surveying, DOTD announced in a news release Friday.

“The survey work is part of the environmental phase, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2018,” a state highway department spokesperson told WBRZ.

After the environmental phase, more signs of an actual expansion project will likely start to take shape.

WBRZ.com was first to report details of the expansion – adding a lane in either direction to I-10 from the Mississippi River to the I-10/12 split. When designed, the area was set to accommodate 80,000 vehicles per day. By 2011, the actual daily use had doubled and experts predict an additional 46,000 vehicles will use the highway system in the next 14 years – a total of 201,500 vehicles per day by 2032.

The state will use bonds to fund the project- essentially taking loans on future federal highway money. It is estimated to cost just under $400 million.

Similar lane closures are planned for I-10 west of Perkins Rd. to La. 415 from Feb. 1 - Feb. 5th each night except Sunday, Feb. 4th. 

Lane closures related to the surveying work will be over by the morning rush each day. Watch WBRZ's morning news program, 2une-In, for late-breaking information on the lane closures ahead of the morning commute.  Live traffic reports start at 5 a.m. weekdays. 

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