BATON ROUGE - Louisiana lawmakers have agreed to widen Interstate 10 to six lanes on a heavily traveled portion of the road from Baton Rouge to suburban Ascension Parish.

The House and Senate transportation committee agreed to the plan Monday without objection. It required approval because of the design method the state transportation department intends to use to fast-track the project.

The $60 million project will widen a 7-mile stretch of interstate from two lanes in each direction to three. About 80,000 motorists are estimated to use that section daily. Construction is estimated to take at least two years, when work begins near the end of 2017.

The transportation department said it plans to use federal dollars that had been earmarked for other projects deemed not ready to get underway.