BATON ROUGE - Travel times between major exits on I-10 through the city are approaching 25 minutes since slow downs turned into another Friday afternoon traffic fiasco.

As of 5:20 p.m., traffic related to a lane closure on the Mississippi River Bridge caused I-10 West to back up from the bridge to Essen Lane and Laurel Street on I-110.

Earlier, lanes on I-10 West were blocked for more than an hour before the College Drive exit just after 2 p.m., and congestion quickly built as the lanes remained closed.  Even after opening, the traffic was almost too great to immediately adjust itself. 

Traffic stretched out to Siegen Lane on I-10 and beyond Airline Highway on I-12.

In the eastbound direction, motorists saw a familiar situation develop on the Mississippi River Bridge as a stalled tractor trailer caused traffic to span the bridge past the LA-415 Lobdell exit. The blocked lane continued to cause congestion for around 30 minutes until the all-clear was given by traffic officials.