When Will Construction End on I-20 in Shreveport/Bossier City?

If you're like me, you're tired of finding a workaround to head north on Spring Street or merge on to I-20 West from I-220 at the racetrack!

Remember a few weeks ago when we heard about the train derailment downtown? It damaged the bridge leading to Spring Street off of I-20 and authorities decided it really was too far gone to use without repair. Silly me, I thought it just affected that exit. Oh no! I found out the hard way the other day, you can't hit Spring Street heading north into downtown from Youree Drive/HWY 1 either. So after already heading south on Market Street from I-20 East to use the turn around in front of Ernest's, I had to get back on I-20, get off on the Traffic Street exit and use the Texas Street bridge to get into downtown. I can't imagine how the folks feel that travel that way every day. It was a pain.

Thankfully, the LA DOTD posted an update on this project this week and this is what they had to say:

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development announces that the repairs to the LA 1 northbound (Spring Street) overpass in downtown Shreveport, Caddo Parish are moving forward.

The 83-year-old bridge was significantly damaged during a train derailment that occurred on Friday, April 24, 2020.

The contractor was given the green light to begin repair work on Friday, May 15th, with the issuance of the official Notice to Proceed.

The repair project is slated to take 70 days to complete so we'll cross our fingers hoping weather conditions, etc... help them finish on time. The detour LA DOTD recommends is using the Fairfield Avenue exit 18C to access the downtown area. 

Then there's the I-220/I-20 Barksdale Air Force Base Interchange Access Project that has the exit from I-220 merging onto I-20 West closed for construction. I've lived in the area around the racetrack/Haughton nearly my whole life, so I know how many cars go that way daily. I'm sure there are a few frustrated folks out there. However, in the end, I think the inconvenience will be worth it. Plus, they won't be working on that ramp the ENTIRE time. They broke ground on the project on May 15th and the LA DOTD projects work will be complete sometime in the fall of 2021. Sure, that seems like forever, but it'll help the ever-growing Haughton area and hopefully, because it's creating easy access to the Base, raise our property values, too!