BATON ROUGE – A project to make the intersection safer appears to be backfiring, as accidents appear to be occurring more frequently at the corner of Highland Road and Terrace Street, according to crash data.
Under the new configuration, drivers exiting the Mississippi River Bridge from Interstate 10 East will have to either merge with southbound traffic on Highland Road or turn right onto Oklahoma Street. Exit ramp drivers must obey slow signs, while Highland drivers have traffic lights.
The plan also called for a raised median between the southbound Highland lanes and the Interstate 10 exit ramp. The median will block access to Terrace Street for drivers coming from the interstate.
For months, Leonard Jones has been monitoring traffic from his job at Highland Terrace Automotive. He said the new design is confusing and causes several accidents a week as drivers make illegal U-turns and cross parking lots.
“There were two wrecks on Wednesday, one that morning around noon, and another around 3:30 or 4 o'clock, and both were pretty bad,” Jones said. Told.
Baton Rouge Police Department data shows an increase in the number of accidents so far this year compared to the previous year, before the road was changed from a regular four-way intersection.
In 2022, BRPD recorded eight accidents at the intersection of Highland and Terrace, resulting in four injuries. Accident data for 2023 shows that there were 15 accidents and three injuries during the year.
This year, up to April 12, there have been eight accidents and one injury. Accidents after that date are not included.
One important observation is that accidents in 2022 and 2023 had different causes. Driver error is listed as the cause of all accidents in 2024, with every accident resulting in a ticket.
If this trend continues, that number could easily surpass last year. Jones would like to see more signs prohibiting U-turns at intersections and more enforcement by police.