Attorney General Jeff Landry is calling on the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development to be transparent over his plans to significantly reduce the number of travel lanes on I-10 in Baton Rouge for one year or more beginning in 2024.
Attorney General Landry’s action comes upon the heels of the LA DOTD stating its intent to reduce capacity on both the eastbound and westbound lanes of I-10 from its existing six lanes to just two lanes – one lane in either direction. Attorney General Landry claims that it appears the LA DOTD not only undertook no balanced consideration of the impacts that would result from reducing I-10 to one lane, but also actively prevented such impacts from being evaluated.
“The current plan to eliminate multiple lanes of travel represents a complete abandonment of assurances provided by LA DOTD, creating new impacts with significant and far-reaching effects that appear to have never been taken into consideration,” said Attorney General Landry.
In a letter to Shawn Wilson, Attorney General Landry formally requested the LA DOTD to identify any evaluations or analyses demonstrating the
department’s current plan to reduce the number of travel lanes on I-10 best serves the overall public interest, including those that address the anticipated social and economic impacts that will result from this approach. The State’s chief legal officer also asked for copies of the contracts LA DOTD executed with the design consultant and CMAR contractor for the I-10 widening project so that the recent changes in the department’s strategy may also be considered in light of the obligations imposed by these agreements.
“While I applaud LA DOTD’s efforts to improve Louisiana’s infrastructure to alleviate current deficiencies and meet future demands, I owe a duty to the public and the legislature to represent the public interest,” wrote Attorney General Landry. “This duty compels me to take action to ensure the decision to fundamentally alter travel to, from, and within our State’s capital for an extended amount of time was made after proper consideration of the anticipated impacts to the health, safety, and welfare of Louisiana citizens.”
Original source can be found here.