BR-area interstates to get new signage
The state is replacing 220 overhead signs on interstates in the Baton Rouge area to make them easier for motorists to read, a state official said Tuesday.
The work, which began in September, will cost nearly $1 million and should be finished by the spring of 2012, said Jodi Conachen, director of communications for the state Department of Transportation and Development.
“It is a federal requirement,” Conachen said.
The aim is to improve the reflectivity of signs on Interstate 10, I-12 and I-110.
“The new signs have a high intensity reflectorized sheeting on them, which will provide better visibility for motorists, improving sight distance, especially at night,” she said in an email.
Conachen said the new signs will have the same information as the old ones but the sheeting has been upgraded.
The $995,000 only applies to sign improvements in the Baton Rouge transportation district, which includes East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Ascension, Assumption, East Feliciana, West Feliciana, Iberville, Pointe Coupee and St. James parishes.
Another $800,000 is being spent in other parishes statewide.
Federal funds are paying for 80 percent of the work and the state is paying the rest.
Conachen said most of the work is being done at night or during off-peak traffic times.
She said overhead signs on the new Mississippi River bridge are among those that have already been replaced.