Phase two of an extensive roadwork project on Jefferson Highway will soon kick off. The roughly $18 million project, which broke ground early last year, will see Jefferson Highway undergo full reconstruction and resurfacing from Drusilla Lane to Airline Highway. Phase one of the project saw the center three lanes of the highway reconstructed and resurfaced, while phase two will see the same work performed on the highway’s two outer lanes. Brooke Goodrich, a public information officer for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, tells Daily Report that work on phase two will commence next week and that the project is expected to wrap up in its entirety in early 2026. Like phase one, phase two will progress down Jefferson Highway in chunks, with the first chunk of work to be performed stretching eastbound from Drusilla Lane to Bluebonnet Boulevard. Back in February, Bill Grass, another of the DOTD’s public information officers, told Daily Report that the project is part of a road transfer program that would see ownership of Jefferson Highway transferred from the state to the city. Because the highway is in “pretty bad shape,” it needs to be repaired before that transfer can take place, he said. The road transfer program was established in 2019 in an effort to “right-size the State Highway System,” according to the DOTD. In Louisiana, the state owns 27% of public road mileage—significantly higher than the national average of 19%. Only nine states own a higher percentage of public road mileage. Local governments can opt to participate in the program, as Baton Rouge has. If they do, eligible roads are repaired by the state before ownership is transferred. Once ownership has been transferred, the local governments are credited for 40 years of routine and capital maintenance.