BATON ROUGE - The fairly new Government Street medians are in pretty rough shape. 

The medians, built just a year and a half ago, are now scuffed up with skid marks, littered with trash and are constantly run through by drivers.

The State Department of Transportation blames speeding and distracted drivers for the constant need for repairs. 

“If people would drive the speed limit and pay attention then they won’t run into the medians," said Rodney Mallett, a DOTD spokesman.

According to Mallett, the medians were built too wide between Jefferson Highway and Lobdell Avenue but the city approved them anyway. Officials said they're looking at possibly dropping the speed limit to 30 miles per hour for that stretch, which is largely residential. 

“They’re six inches wider than what was in the original design, but when we went back and we talked to the city, having that width at that speed will slow down drivers in that residential area more than expected.”

Since the project was completed in 2021, DOTD and the City-Parish have been working on an agreement to transfer ownership of the road. Mallett says the landscaping issue has halted the process.

“The landscaping is what’s really holding us back," Mallett said. "Because of the freeze and the plants died and it really doesn’t look like it’s supposed to so, we’re going to take care of that and then we will transfer it to the city."

Once the next round of landscaping is complete, the state will try again to transfer ownership to the city. DOTD could not specify when that will happen.