A $78 million dollar infrastructure project on I-10 will begin tonight.

ACADIANA, La (KLFY) -- A $78 million dollar infrastructure project on I-10 will begin tonight.

From I-49 to just west of Acadia Parish, DOTD workers will be fixing parts of I-10 in Acadia and Lafayette Parish.

37 miles of I-10 in Acadia and Lafayette Parish will be under construction in a $78 million infrastructure project. Deidra Druilhet says this project is a way to maintain the highway on I-10.
The project starts Oct 16. and will be worked in phases.

"This is a $78 million project where we're doing some interstate pavement preservation. So of course the crews will be doing the pavement work, of course, all along that 37 mile stretch, as well as upgrading guardrail and bringing it up to standards," said Druilhet.

She says I-10 Eastbound will see the first part of construction as they will work one lane at a time.

"We've essentially broken the project down into about three phases, and so the first phase which kind of begins tonight, will begin where we have the I-10/I-49 interchange in Lafayette Parish, and right until you get Duson/Mire exit," said Druilhet.

Druilhet says most of the construction will be done at night to try to alleviate increased traffic and congestion. She says there will be times where construction may run over into morning hours, but it should not be to the point of creating a huge hindrance to traffic flow. DOTD wants to remind drivers to plan ahead when using areas of I-10 that's under construction.

"We do want to encourage motorists just with any construction project, of course, to plan ahead. and we do have several resources available for motorists to utilize so that they can plan their travel times as well as their commute. so we do encourage them if they're not lined up already to go to our website," said Druilhet.

DOTD anticipates the project to be complete by spring of 2025, and with any type of construction going on, motorist are always encouraged to be as careful as possible when in a work zone.