BATON ROUGE, La. – The long awaited $27 million Perkins Road Widening project is scheduled to begin construction Tuesday, Jan. 9, the Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) announced today.

The three-year project to widen Perkins Road from Essen Lane to Siegen Lane will begin with contractors laying subsurface drainage pipe near the Oakbrook Subdivision.

“Drivers can expect some delays during the project,” said DOTD Project Engineer Mike Vosburg. “However, we plan to keep two lanes open as much as possible by scheduling lane closures for nonpeak travel times.”

Throughout the project, the DOTD Customer Service Center will provide e-mail updates on the project’s progress as well as a call center for questions and concerns regarding the project. For questions, or to sign up for e-mail updates, contact DOTD Customer Service at 1-877-4LA-DOTD (1-877-452-3683) or e-mail customerservice@dotd.la.gov.

The finished roadway will widen Perkins Road from two lanes to five lanes – similar to the existing Perkins Road between Essen Lane and Acadian Thruway. There will be two through lanes in each direction, a center turn-lane throughout the length of the project and an additional turn-lane added at Perkins and Bluebonnet Boulevard.

The project will also include a 6-foot wide sidewalk, curbs and gutters, and subsurface drainage on each side of the roadway. All existing signal equipment will be upgraded with the latest in signal technology. This new technology will include mast arm signal supports, light emitting diode (LED) signals for low energy consumption and longer life, and video traffic

detection cameras. The new cameras sense the movement of cars in order to adjust the timing of the signals and are not used for any law enforcement activities.

The project development is a joint effort between DOTD, the City of Baton Rouge and the Federal Highway Administration. The contractor for the project is James Construction Group LLC of Baton Rouge.

The construction of the 3-mile-long Perkins Road Widening project will not adversely affect drainage. Currently, nearly 25,000 vehicles travel this section of Perkins Road each day.

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www.dotd.la.gov