BATON ROUGE - Drivers in Baton Rouge will be seeing more construction equipment as DOTD gets the ball rolling on one of the biggest projects of the decade. 

"Right now we're drilling test shafts and we're doing vibration monitoring. It's additional survey work to help with the design so when we get to the construction phase we'll have a much better plan on how to move forward," Rodney Mallett, a spokesman for DOTD, said.

He says preparatory work like this is very common for projects of this scope. Drivers will mainly see heavy equipment and construction zones near Expressway Park and the City Park Lakes.

Major lane restrictions on the interstate will not begin until 2025, but drivers on surface streets adjacent to the interstate may see lane closures. 

This phase is expected to last until early 2024, according to DOTD.