Attorney General Jeff Landry Demands Answers
BATON ROUGE, LA – Attorney General Jeff Landry is calling on
the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development to
be transparent over his plans to significantly reduce the number of travel
lanes on I-10 in Baton Rouge for one year or more beginning in 2024.
Attorney General Landry’s action comes upon the heels of the
LA DOTD stating its intent to reduce capacity on both the eastbound and
westbound lanes of I-10 from its existing six lanes to just two lanes – one
lane in either direction. Attorney General Landry claims that it appears the LA
DOTD not only undertook no balanced consideration of the impacts that would
result from reducing I-10 to one lane, but also actively prevented such impacts
from being evaluated.
“The current plan to eliminate multiple lanes of travel
represents a complete abandonment of assurances provided by LA DOTD, creating
new impacts with significant and far-reaching effects that appear to have never
been taken into consideration,” said Attorney General Landry.
In a letter to Shawn Wilson, Attorney General Landry
formally requested the LA DOTD to identify any evaluations or analyses
demonstrating the department’s current plan to reduce the number of travel
lanes on I-10 best serves the overall public interest, including those that
address the anticipated social and economic impacts that will result from this
approach. The State’s chief legal officer also asked for copies of the
contracts LA DOTD executed with the design consultant and CMAR contractor for
the I-10 widening project so that the recent changes in the department’s
strategy may also be considered in light of the obligations imposed by these
agreements.
“While I applaud LA DOTD’s efforts to improve Louisiana’s
infrastructure to alleviate current deficiencies and meet future demands, I owe
a duty to the public and the legislature to represent the public interest,”
wrote Attorney General Landry. “This duty compels me to take action to ensure
the decision to fundamentally alter travel to, from, and within our State’s
capital for an extended amount of time was made after proper consideration of
the anticipated impacts to the health, safety, and welfare of Louisiana
citizens.”