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Old Hammond Highway set for $12 million upgrade to ease traffic and boost safety
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BATON ROUGE — A nearly $12 million project is planned for Old Hammond Highway, aimed at reducing congestion and improving safety along one of the area's most heavily traveled corridors.
The project will be broken up into phases. The first two phases start in May and involve widening Old Hammond Highway from Millerville to O'Neal Lane, as well as a section of Flannery Road between Old Hammond and Goodwood.
The work will widen the roadway from two lanes to four, fill in ditches, add sidewalks and improve pedestrian access across the corridor. It also includes replacing the bridge at South Flannery and expanding it to support more pedestrians with added sidewalk space.
More than 18,000 drivers use Old Hammond Highway daily, and nearly 11,000 travel South Flannery each day.
Joseph Pierre, a barber who works along Old Hammond Highway, said the traffic is already a challenge for people in the area.
"For everybody it's an inconvenience because sometimes I have to leave to go get the kids from school, and we have to wait for minutes at a time just to get out to go do things," Pierre said.
Fred Raiford weighed in on why the project is needed. "It's necessary, it's been needed for some time, particularly in this area that's been growing a whole lot, and it's still continuing to grow," Raiford said.
Raiford also said drivers should expect some disruptions once work gets underway. "Probably will start looking at doing some road closures at the bridge itself, that's going to require some rerouting of traffic," he said.
Pierre said he's looking at the bigger picture despite the short-term inconvenience. "It'll be fine, I know once the project is finished, I think long term it will be good for everybody," he said.
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