Press Releases

Congressman Garret Graves (South Louisiana), Governor John Bel Edwards, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Shawn Wilson and other state leaders marked the beginning of construction today on a solution to the Capital Region's traffic bottleneck at the I-10 Washington St. Exit. The "I-110 Interchange Modification Project at Terrace Ave" is designed to eliminate traffic congestion associated the I-10 eastbound Washington Street exit and will provide connectivity from I-110 southbound to surrounding residential neighborhoods.

Graves was instrumental in making this traffic-improvement project a reality through his work in Congress to enact the FAST Act in 2015. Through that legislation, Graves negotiated a $500 million increase in federal highway funding for Louisiana and worked to establish the federal grant program Louisiana used to secure funding for the state to be able to commit resources to reconfiguring this section of I-10. In addition to this project, the grant program has resulted in more than $100 million in additional federal transportation funds to Louisiana.

"Breaking ground on this project is a game-changer and fundamental to cleaning up the Capital Region traffic mess," said Graves, "Instead of talking about this decades-old problem, we are taking action to fix it. By laying the groundwork to fix the bottleneck, the stage is being set for a new Mississippi River crossing and a regional traffic solution. I would like to thank Governor Edwards and Shawn Wilson for their hard work and prioritizing this project."

As a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Graves helped to finalize the five-year highway-funding law that includes many of his provisions designed to address Louisiana's traffic problems. The Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act contains substantial increases in federal highway funding for Louisiana – including $100 million in additional grant money under Graves' amendment - and other important Graves provisions that are helping address short, mid and long-term traffic solutions in the entire capitol region.

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