BATON ROUGE - A major project to widen Pecue Lane and add interstate ramps is expected to wrap up in due time. 

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development announced Thursday that crews have entered the third and final phase of construction. 

The current work includes paving the southbound lanes, constructing the southbound Pecue Lane bridge over Ward’s Creek, grading the new on and off ramps at I-10 and installing catch basins for drainage. 

DOTD spokesperson Rodney Mallett said the road relies too heavily on a ditch for drainage, which leads to flooding and standing water issues at times. The catch basins will prevent that in the future, once installed. 

"That's an old road, it has an old drainage system that relies heavily on a ditch. And so that ditch can hold water and there can be standing water at times so the drainage system now, we're gonna take the ditch out and the water is going to flow into all the catch basins," Mallett said. 

Once the project is completed, Pecue Lane will have two lanes in each direction between Airline Highway and Perkins Road. Drivers will also encounter a "diverging diamond" interchange between the entrance and exit ramps at I-10.

During the fall of this year, crews plan to shift traffic onto the newly-paved lanes. The entire project should be completed by the middle of 2026.