BATON ROUGE - It's a project that's been planned since the early 1990's.

Construction on Jones Creek Road is wrapping up today, with people in the Shenandoah area saying it's about time.

The improvements have widened the road from Coursey all the way to Tiger Bend.

Work began in 2015, and the improved road has five concrete lanes, two in each direction, with a center turn lane. The old one was paved with asphalt with just three lanes in total.

New features include multiple turn lanes at each intersection, sidewalks replacing ditches, and new traffic lights featuring cameras and traffic control systems. 

The $18 million project was funded with city, state and federal money. It went over the original opening date by three months due to weather delays.

Mike Olson, the project engineer for the City-Parish, says he is proud of the finished product.

"The prior roadway was a three lane roadway, it was asphalt, filled full of potholes...right now we have concrete pavement nine inches thick, the duration of the concrete pavement is the difference of night and day in what was here before, to whats here now."

The city says the project is 99 percent complete, with some sidewalk and landscaping work left to do. The remaining work should wrap by August, and while workers are out, there will be some limited lane closures.