BATON ROUGE - Construction began in 2021 and this is just a piece of the puzzle. A planned change to the end of the westbound College Drive exit ramp has been delayed until Tuesday.

The new four-lane configuration at the traffic signal had been scheduled to open Sunday, but expected stormy weather led to its delay until 5 a.m. Tuesday. The change is expected to give drivers a smoother transition when exiting at College Drive, DOTD spokesman Rodney Mallet said.

"It’s going to make it much easier for people to get off at College Drive and much easier for those people who want to continue going west they don’t have to fight the exit traffic,” Mallet said.

When the continuous traffic lane opens, drivers will be able to bypass the signal and go straight to Corporate Boulevard.

“You do have to merge to get to the College Drive exit but once the exit is complete. You’re going to have the dedicated exit lane and there will be no weaving action,” said Mallet. 

Drivers who exit I-10 West at College Drive will have a dedicated lane, separate from College Drive with a curb.

Mallet said that this is could even improve those traffic back ups.

“Looking at the traffic cameras, the traffic back up on I-10 in the peak hours has actually decreased a little bit already because the weaving action has been minimized,” said Mallet.

Minimized for now, but soon, it could be a thing of the past.

"When the project is complete, we’re not going to have the weaving action at all, we’re going to have the dedicated turn lane at College Drive,” said Mallet.

DOTD said that drivers will still be able to exit onto College Drive but drivers can now have an option to exit onto Corporate Boulevard too.