BATON ROUGE- While it's been in use since last month, the opening College Drive Flyover Project is officially complete after a Thursday ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development held the ceremony for the project that started in 2021.

The project realigned I-12 westbound lanes and constructed a flyover for I-10 westbound traffic near the College Drive exit.

The completed flyover now provides more direct access to College for westbound drivers on both I-10 and I-12.

Before the shift, drivers were merging onto I-10 westbound from the right side of the interstate. The new configuration allows I-12 westbound lanes to move to the left before the interstates merge, becoming the left lanes of I-10 westbound.

College Drive is less than one mile from the interstate split and some drivers were forced to change lanes three times in that stretch of highway to get to the College exit. Now, there is a dedicated exit for both I-10 and I-12 going westbound to get off at College Drive.

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development said this new traffic pattern is permanent and the new configuration is already showing signs of significant improvement on the roads.

"It's also good for a lot of the people who drive this every day who have watched the construction, who have watched the progress, it's going to be nice to able for them to drive without having the construction in place," DOTD spokesman Rodney Mallett said. "If you want to get off at 10 or 12 at College Drive you can now do that with a dedicated lane."