Open house gives first look at the city’s plan to transform OId Hammond Highway

BATON ROUGE – After two years of planning and preparing, city-parish officials are giving residents a preview of their plans for Old Hammond Highway.

The city’s designs plan to take the portion between Boulevard de Province and Millerville Road and transform it. This will be completed in two segments, broken down into phases. 

The first segment contains phases A, B, and C. Phase A will reconstruct the bridge crossing at South Flannery Road over Lively Bayou, which the city says could be could finished in the first half of 2023. A roundabout is also being considered where Old Hammond Highway meets Flannery Road.

The third phase of MOVEBR’s project will begin the expansion of the roadway between the overviewed area, taking it from two lanes to four. Officials say this roadway reconstruction could start during the second half of 2024 and is expected to take a year to complete. 

“It’s going to add some shared-use paths, it’s going to improve the transportation and the safety for pedestrians and bicyclists that doesn’t currently exist there,” mayor’s office spokesperson Mark Armstrong said.

While those enhancements come in the second segment of the project, the city says attending the open house Wednesday night will play a key factor in how the plans move forward.

The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Faith Presbyterian Church on Old Hammond Highway. If you can’t make the public meeting, you can submit feedback through MOVEBR’s website.