Moving this project forward towards construction in early 2027 will require several steps to be completed first. They are: Conduct public and stakeholder engagement to gain feedback on design changes and obtain environmental clearance from FHWA through the NEPA Reevaluation process. An open-house style event is scheduled for Tuesday evening, September 8, 2026 at the West Baton Rouge Conference Center. Complete land survey fieldwork in areas where the roadway design changed so

Attend the community drop-in event the evening of September 8th at the WBR Conference Center at the Lobdell exit.

Following an April 2023 Notice of Intent and issuance of a Request for Qualifications solicitation in May of 2023 for this project, the DOTD received proposals from qualified CMAR contractors and selected the James Construction Group (now Primoris Heavy Civil) and TRC Engineer, Inc. design team to design and implement the project via the Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) delivery method. CMAR differs from traditional design – bid – build in that the Contractor and Designer

An Environmental Assessment (EA) was completed and a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) was received from FHWA in April of 2007.