BATON ROUGE — The Washington Street exit on Interstate 10 will be permanently closed starting next week.

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development said the work will take place nightly between Wednesday, Feb. 18, and Sunday, Feb. 22.

The closure is intended to eliminate dangerous weaving and reduce bottlenecks that led to significant crashes and delays along the highway, particularly stemming from the high volume of vehicles merging from the Mississippi River Bridge.

Motorists trying to access downtown Baton Rouge are being asked to use the I-110 South exit to Terrace Avenue or the I-10 West exit to Nicholson Drive/Highland Road exit.

Work on the closure will see DOTD crews installing concrete barriers, removing signage and restriping the area. DOTD added that the ramp will be fully removed as part of the ongoing I-10 widening project.

WBRZ previously reported that state lawmakers wanted the exit closed by December 2025.