Megaproject Delivery in Baton Rouge

Overview

Decision Situation

The Context

The portion of Interstate 10 (I-10) in Baton Rouge targeted for widening (Figure 3) was part of the original Interstate system built several decades ago. Over time, the area became a vital hub for commerce with two major universities [Louisiana State University (LSU) and Southern University and A&M College] that generate significant traffic during sporting and other events. In addition, the route serves as a crucial evacuation hub for coastal communities during hurricanes. However, the Interstate had not kept pace with the cityʼs growth, leading to recurring congestion and safety concerns as traffic demand in the area surged. The state knew that the time had come to upgrade this high-traffic, urban Interstate.

The need for increased capacity through this stretch of I-10 was not a new concept, and several past administrations tried to make it happen. But each time, there was some major city constituent who objected to the plan, and Baton Rouge officials refused to sign off.

The public spotlight was trained even more on the project because it would be one of the stateʼs first major redevelopments of an Interstate in an urban core (Plaquemine Post South 2022). The original I-10 construction project, like many Interstates in the country, had a complicated history of bringing progress to some parts of the state while damaging the surrounding low-income neighborhoods. This project gave the state an opportunity to redress a portion of these issues and reinvest in a location that had had disparate outcomes over several decades.

This was a project of great proportion that would make or break the governor and the department.
—Shawn Wilson
former Secretary, Louisiana DOTD

Long Description.

The map shows the path of I-10 through Baton Rouge from Port Allen in the west, across the Mississippi River, through the downtown area and continuing eastward past the Zee Zee Gardens and Southdowns. Turquoise marks indicate construction areas between the intersection with I-10 and Stanford Avenue.

Building a Foundation of Support

Given the history of inconsistent support among different communities in the area, former Louisiana DOTD Secretary Shawn Wilson knew that he would need to go back to the original project objectors to gain their support. This time, he was going to start the process by going to the community that was most likely to mistrust the agencyʼs approach and seek to stop the project: the community around the Interstate that had already been hit hard by the last round of construction in the name of improvement. He was determined to see the Louisiana DOTD do better with this Interstate project for the surrounding community than it did 60 years ago and rebuild integrity for the department.

Wilson launched a campaign of relentless engagement, committing himself to being “the first to arrive and the last to leave” at every public meeting. He became the face of the project, holding

project meetings and meeting individually with people in the community. Previous DOT secretaries did not look like the people in this community, and, according to Wilson, it was meaningful that as a Black man, he did. There are things they told him that they may not have told other staff. Over time, people began to trust him and, in turn, the agency.

The projectʼs constituents went beyond this community, however. There was a thriving commercial and entertainment district that drew 100,000 cars a day. There were “well-heeled, silk-stocking communities” associated with the universities, along with the universities themselves. Each of these constituents had its own requests for the project and the Louisiana DOTD.

After the original Interstate had delivered a “forest of bridge piers with no aesthetic value,” according to Wilson, the new project was delivered in a manner that was context sensitive, smarter, and more thoughtful to a degree the department had never achieved before. Why shouldnʼt they do what they could to make the resulting project area aesthetically pleasing and environmentally friendly?

There were people who watched the original I-10 come to their community and created a forest of bridge piers with no aesthetic value. It was essential for these people to be heard in the current project.
—Shawn Wilson
former Secretary, Louisiana DOTD

So, he and the Louisiana DOTD looked for ways to be as responsive as possible to the diverse range of requests. They could not agree to every request—LSUʼs request to put its mascot on the sound walls, for example—but they could use the construction opportunity to dredge nearby lakes when the universities offered to pay for the marginal cost it added. They could also add bike paths; nicer, modern acrylic sound walls; art; and aesthetic landscaping. They worked with utilities to locate all utility lines in centralized ducts along the corridor. Wilson credits the real estate team with doing “a phenomenal job with development,” and the design team won a national award for their work. The whole endeavor was a very dynamic and exciting new approach to an engineering project for the agency.

Regulatory, Logistical, and Technical Hurdles

Community members were not the only stakeholders with a history of objections to the project. FHWA had had concerns with the environmental review process in the past. Some of these issues would be addressed by the greater level of community outreach, but the Louisiana DOTD also decided to keep federal partners actively involved in the entire project planning process. Whereas, in the past, they may have updated federal officials as decisions were made, they now invited these officials to participate in every project meeting to observe the decision-making discussions firsthand. Having federal staff be part of regular project meetings meant that they understood how decisions were made and were less inclined to object to them.

It was important to the Louisiana DOTD to establish productive working relationships with both their federal partners and their contractors. The agency established the Office of Creative Procurement to centralize all major staff and decision-makers related to the project. The construction contractor was asked to remain physically housed within the agencyʼs offices to maintain proximity for quick decision-making, streamlined coordination, and accountability throughout the projectʼs lifecycle. In addition, they used an innovative delivery method to streamline collaboration on construction and minimize disruptions.

This arrangement of key players was essential as the project began to contend with technical challenges related to the complexity of widening an active Interstate in a confined and crowded space. The absence of shoulders and the need to maintain traffic flow during construction posed significant logistical hurdles, and design exceptions were a constant recurrence. By centralizing decision-making authority and ensuring key decision-makers were involved in project discussions, they could address political concerns and secure buy-in for the projectʼs objectives.

The Big Decision

While the Louisiana DOTD and Wilson were faced with many critical decisions throughout the planning and initiation of this megaproject, the most divisive issue came down to one simultaneously routine yet hugely impactful decision: lane closures. There were two primary alternatives. Under the first option, the agency would keep all three of the current lanes open during construction, limiting the impact of the project on the daily experience of highway users. However, each lane would be tight, and the construction options would be limited due to the cramped quarters and proximity to active traffic. This option would also make construction slower, stretching the project over 6 or more years.

The second alternative was to bring each direction down to two lanes temporarily, which would allow for complete demolition and rebuilding of the segmentʼs structures. This would have a significant impact on traffic, as the already-congested corridor would lose a third of its capacity for a year and a half. It also had the benefit of ending construction a year and a half earlier, for a total of just four and a half years of construction. The reduced time would mean overall reduced costs as well.

“I would much rather rip off the Band-Aid and get the benefits to the public,” Wilson said. “It would be just one LSU football season, one Christmas, and then it would be over.” He reasoned that a longer construction period put the project at greater risk for having to withstand a hurricane (either the storm directly or a surge in traffic from evacuees) or for being hit by other risks to the schedule and budget.

So Louisiana DOTD moved forward with the two-lane construction approach (Sentell 2022). They did a lot of work in anticipation of the expected disruption, spending millions of dollars repairing a nearby underpass, fixing a major merge point, implementing a light synchronization project, and working on campaigns to move as many commuters as possible to transit during construction.

I would much rather rip off the Band-Aid and get the benefits to the public.
—Shawn Wilson
former Secretary, Louisiana DOTD

Blowback

When the public found out that Louisiana DOTD was planning to close lanes for the construction, there was an immediate backlash. Regular travelers on the highway already had a 30-minute delay, and they could not fathom having that delay get any longer.

The decision also faced a legal challenge from the attorney generalʼs office questioning whether stakeholder input was sufficiently considered in the decision to close lanes (Muller 2022). This added fuel to the public firestorm, garnering increased media attention and skepticism.

In early 2023, Wilson stepped down as secretary of Louisiana DOTD to run for governor. In December of that year, his successor overturned his decision and moved to the alternative of keeping the three lanes open.

Hindsight

When asked today whether he made the right call, Wilson did not miss a beat: “Absolutely. It was the right decision.” With the additional time and cost of the prolonged three-lane approach will come an increased susceptibility to risks that could bog down the project further. This was the agencyʼs first project delivered under a new approach and, as an experiment, it had the potential to be a real “knock out of the park.” However, because of the prolonged construction timeline, there are a lot more things that can go wrong.

I was ready to be the bad guy. But soon he [his successor] will be the bad guy when construction drags on.
—Shawn Wilson
former Secretary, Louisiana DOTD

Wilson is confident in his decision in large part because of the extensive groundwork he laid with the community. People believed and trusted the decision-making, even if the decision itself was hard to swallow at first. The project team had also done significant work to prepare for the disruption and used it as an opportunity to do a complete mobility overhaul of the corridor. Wilson understands why his successor made the decision he did but still believes the state would have gotten through the reduced lane period better than many imagined. He suspects that putting up with an extra year and a half of construction to avoid lane closures will also be a challenge for drivers and the community alike.