BATON ROUGE, La. – The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) announced that the Airline Highway Widening project will open to traffic tomorrow.

The project, which is 26 days ahead of schedule, added a third lane in both directions of Airline Highway, from just south of Cedarcrest to Florida Boulevard. 

DOTD upgraded traffic signals using video detectors near the signals rather than loop detectors in the pavement and added dual left-turn lanes on Airline Highway at Goodwood Boulevard, Old Hammond Highway and Coursey Boulevard.

The improvements reduce peak-hour travel time from Florida to Bluebonnet Boulevard by about 50 percent. A 20 percent reduction is expected going northbound.  

 “Congestion on this road was already bad and has increased since Hurricane Katrina,” said DOTD Secretary Johnny B. Bradberry. “Realizing that, we reduced traffic disruptions during rush hour by doing most of the work at night.”

DOTD also added a new customer service element to this project. A pilot program was implemented using the Customer Service Center as a point of contact for updates on the status of the project.

“Our e-mail updates received an overwhelmingly positive response from local businesses and the general public,” said DOTD Customer Service Manager Peggy Bueche. “We plan to apply this proactive approach to future projects such as the Perkins Road Widening project, which is scheduled to begin next year.” 

To receive updates about the Perkins Road Widening project via email, contact the Customer Service Center at 1-877-4LADOTD (1-877-452-3683) or by e-mail at customerservice@dotd.la.gov.

The Airline Highway Widening project, which began on March 13, cost $16.9 million and was originally scheduled for completion Nov. 29.  The contractor was Barber Brothers Contracting Co. 

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www.dotd.la.gov