City-parish considering lower speed limit on Government Street

BATON ROUGE – A lowered speed limit could soon be implemented on a residential stretch of Government Street. 

WBRZ first reported that the Government Street medians were not built to spec, six inches too wide between Jefferson Highway and Lobdell Avenue, but the city approved the plans anyway claiming “it worked.”

“They’re six inches wider than what was in the original design, but when we went back and we talked to the city, having that width at that speed will slow down drivers in that residential area more than expected,” said Rodney Mallett, with DOTD.

Now, the city wants drivers to slow down even more. They are considering lowering the speed limit between Jefferson and Lobdell from 35 mph to 30 mph when ownership of the street is transferred from the state to the city. 

“City-Parish is considering 30 miles per hour speed zone between Jefferson and Lobdell. The speed would align with the width of these lanes and the safety of the residential neighborhood,” a statement from the city-parish. 

Neither DOTD or city-parish spokespersons could say when ownership would be transferred but said “sooner rather than later.”

Last week, WBRZ reported on the worsening conditions of the medians, which are scuffed up with tire marks and disheveled from cars running through them. DOTD blamed “distracted drivers and speeding” for the mess. 

The Government Street ‘Road Diet’ project eliminated one lane from each side of the road to create the medians. Since it was completed in 2021, DOTD has been working to transfer ownership of the street to the city-parish. 

An agreement has not been reached for years because of landscaping costs, according to DOTD. A spokesperson with the city-parish said filling in the medians with concrete is not an option currently because of flood concerns.