Mayor Broome Announces 2021 MOVEBR Projects

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome has announced the construction of 21 MOVEBR projects beginning in 2021.

The projects will increase the capacity of, significantly enhance existing corridors, build sidewalks, and increase accessibility throughout the parish.

In addition to road construction projects, signalization efforts will continue to move forward with three fiber optic cable installation projects to connect corridors for communication with the Advanced Traffic Management Center.

“We want to make sure they know that we are working aggressively to try and get our projects out and ready for construction,” said Fred Raiford, EBR Transportation, and Drainage Director.

Raiford says crews made a lot of progress in 2020 when the pandemic broke out. And now looking ahead to 2021, there are some major projects ready to get started, Like the Picardy-Perkins connector.

“This road will give you another access to Interstate 10. Tying in when you go through the mall you can get back up on the ramp, and get up onto the interstate. We believe that is a very big plus for the motoring public,” said Raiford.

Some of the other big road projects:

- Mall of Louisiana Boulevard (Picardy-Perkins Connector)

- Pecue Lane (Perkins Road – Airline Highway)

- Ben Hur Realignment at Nicholson Drive

- Dijon Avenue Phase 2 (Midway – Bluebonnet Boulevard)

- Midway (Dijon Avenue Phase 2 – Picardy)

- Old Hammond Highway Segment 2 (Millerville Road – O’Neal Lane)

- South Choctaw Drive (Flannery Road – Central Thruway)

“I think you’ll see these projects move out ahead of some of them (Picardy-Perkins Connector and South Choctaw Drive projects) because of the construction aspect. A lot of the engineering has already been done, we just needed to secure the necessary right-of-way, and get the thing advertised and get the projects out under construction,” said Raiford.

Utility crews are working with DOTD to make sure they are working in sync. Raiford says help is on the way, but it could still be a long road ahead.

“I hear from the public every day, about it’s never fast enough and I get that.”

But we still have to follow the process, we still have to go through certain steps to get it done, but we’re making every effort,” said Raiford.

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