BATON ROUGE - Following an announcement from the State Department of Transportation about eliminating lane restrictions during the I-10 widening project, the vast influx of traffic shifted onto surface streets in EBR Parish is no longer a major concern. 

For the last few years, a comprehensive plan has been in the works to enhance major corridors in preparation for the congestion those lane closures would have caused on the interstate. Those efforts will be kept at full speed, according to EBR Director of Transportation and Drainage, Fred Raiford. 

"I know they made the announcement, there's been a lot of discussion about this taking place, but that didn't stop us from moving forward for things we still had to do and we're going to continue moving forward like it's still gonna happen," Raiford said.

In January, Raiford presented the City-Parish Traffic Mitigation Plans for the I-10 widening project. Two main objectives included traffic signal synchronization and capacity improvements for highly-traveled roads. 

To date, 470 traffic signals have been connected to the EBR Advanced Traffic Management Center through fiber optic cables. Raiford says drivers will also still benefit from capacity improvements because those roads will provide a better alternate route from the interstate. 

"People are always looking for other ways to get to and from where they wanna go," Raiford said. 

Click here for more information about ongoing and completed MOVEBR projects.