Baton Rouge 2035

Baton Rouge faces a regional congestion crisis driven by interstate bottlenecks, limited Mississippi River crossings, suburban growth and decades of underinvestment. 

Coordinated solution

The strategy combines three complementary investments:

• I-10 widening modernizes the corridor from the Horace Wilkinson Bridge to the I-10/I-12 split. Completion is targeted for 2031, with approximately 500,000 annual hours saved. 

• A new South Bridge provides another commuter route, supports economic development and creates critical river-crossing redundancy. Completion is targeted for 2035, with approximately 1 million annual hours saved. 

• MOVE BR projects represent $1 billion in local-road investment, including smart signals and improvements to Airline Highway, Nicholson and other corridors. These projects improve local mobility and reduce pressure on the interstate system and over two-thirds of these projects will be complete by 2035. 

Together, these initiatives address distinct parts of the problem: I-10 capacity, river-crossing limitations, local traffic, suburban demand, safety, evacuation readiness and freight reliability. 

Funding and delivery

Continued GARVEE bond funding is needed to keep the I-10 widening on schedule. More than $1 billion has been secured for the South Bridge, but an estimated $500 million funding gap remains; committed state and federal funding will be required to close it. 

MOVE BR improvements provide near-term local relief. I-10 widening is expected to produce the first major regional congestion reduction in 2031, followed by broader traffic redistribution when the South Bridge opens in 2035. 

Regional payoff

Successful delivery would provide added capacity, reduce dependence on I-10, establish a backup river crossing, modernize signals and corridors, improve commute reliability and strengthen freight movement and economic competitiveness. 

Bottom line: 

These projects form one integrated regional solution—not three independent initiatives. Sustained funding and coordinated execution are the remaining requirements for improving mobility, safety and economic growth through 2035. 

Capital Region Mobility Statement

CRISIS launched the grant-funded Capital Region Mobility Strategy (CRMS) in 2016 in response to growing concerns about transportation in the Baton Rouge area. The strategy recognizes the important ties between effective transportation systems and strong regional economies. With consideration for the Capital Regional Planning Commission’s Metropolitan Transportation Plan Update, Move 2042, the CRMS considers the unique competing interests that affect the regional transportation system, including unpredictable funding levels, shifting demographics, a growing economy, rising expectations, and natural uncertainty. The strategy aligns short- and long-term transportation strategies with broader regional goals and initiatives, such as mobility, safety, and economic vitality.

The CRMS is meant to complement the development of Long Range Transportation Plan Update, Move 2042, which is constrained in assigning the projected funding that will be available for transportation projects over the next decade.  The CRMS takes a holistic approach to addressing traffic problems by identifying a range of strategies within a broader framework of more comprehensive regional policies, programs and ideas that fall outside of the financially constrained federally mandated plan and require multiple partnerships to advance.

The CRMS is organized around five overlapping themes:

The strategies fall into three categories:

2016 Region Projects Analysis

Commissioned by CRISIS, this analysis was led by Capital Region Planning Commission (CRPC) Executive Director Jamie Setze and the CRPC’s transportation planners, in an effort to begin to forge regional consensus based on data-driven solutions.

To conduct the analysis, a team of CRISIS representatives, parish presidents or their representatives, legislators, and CRPC staff identified projects with regional significance for analysis, with consideration given to all regional projects in the State Long Range Plan.  Then, 18 major transportation projects were analyzed using a regional transportation model for comparative analysis.  Key metrics used included each project’s projected reduction in regional Vehicle Hours of Travel (VHT), along with “best available” cost estimates done in conjunction with DOTD, to arrive at ratios of “congestion relief for the cost” derived for comparison.

Projects were also compared based on groupings among four different categories, based on whether they were a new Mississippi River crossing, a large regional project, a small regional project, or addressed the region’s “urban core.”

General findings of the analysis concluded that:

• Multiple projects are needed for regional congestion relief

• Highest benefit projects involve crossing the Mississippi River (New bridge and increased use of old bridge)

• Best benefit/cost projects involve improving commute to Ascension Parish and one additional lane in both directions of I-10 through Baton Rouge

• Tolling can be a part of broader funding strategy – with project tolling revenue projections ranging from 25% to 60% of project cost

Based on the analysis and findings, a recommended Regional Solution would consist of the following project priorities:

• I-10 Widening (one lane in both directions) Through Baton Rouge

• Ascension Commuter Route (I-10 to LA 22)

• New River Crossing South of I-10 Bridge (With LA 30 Widening)

• Increase Use of US 190 Bridge (BUMP or North Bypass)