BATON ROUGE - State highway officials say they're weighing other options to funnel traffic through major construction zones during Baton Rouge's long-awaited I-10 expansion project after getting pushback from the public.

A statement from DOTD on Thursday said the agency would "examine other options" ahead of the project's second phase, which is set to start in early 2025. That phase entails restricting traffic between the 10/110 split and Acadian Thruway. 

It was originally slated to create a chokepoint that would leave only one lane open in either direction for a small stretch of the interstate, but that plan was pushed back earlier this year so workers could extend the westbound side of the interstate by adding another lane. 

DOTD says a meeting held just months after it announced that shake-up yielded input that is now sending the agency back to the drawing board. 

Read the full announcement below. 

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) is exploring options for stage 2 of the I-10 reconstruction and widening project between I-110 and Acadian Thruway. Stage 2 of construction is currently set to begin in early 2025. The decision to examine other options stems from the public meeting held on March 7, 2023, in which concerns were expressed about traffic impacts and construction time.

DOTD and its I-10 widening project team are evaluating traffic management options comparing maintaining two lanes versus three lanes in each direction during stage 2 construction. Schedule, cost, traffic impacts, and supply chain reliability are all being considered. The analysis should be completed by December, at which time the department will submit the results to the Federal Highway Administration for review.

Current construction work will not be impacted by the stage 2 traffic management analysis.