BATON ROUGE — The Washington Street exit on I-10 was permanently closed Wednesday night.

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development exit was shuttered at 8 p.m. 

DOTD said closing the exit should reduce the risk of crashes for drivers trying to merge across traffic after coming from the Mississippi River Bridge.

There will be nightly lane closures on the interstate near the Washington Street exit until Sunday as crews remove signage and install concrete barriers.