Louisiana State Police Cite 26 Truckers for Left-Lane Violations on Atchafalaya Basin Bridge
BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana State Police cited 26 commercial truck drivers in a single day after a targeted enforcement detail found every one of them driving in the left lane of the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, a lane commercial vehicles are barred from using on that stretch of I-10.
Troopers with LSP’s Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Regions I and II worked the detail alongside LSP Air Support, watching the bridge from above while ground units made stops in St. Martin and Iberville parishes. State police said the operation was a direct response to numerous complaints the agency received from drivers about commercial vehicles remaining in the left lane along the 18-mile span.
Why Troopers Targeted the Bridge
Louisiana State Police put out a statement acknowledging the volume of complaints directly, saying the agency had “heard your concerns” about commercial vehicles traveling in the left lane. Troopers said the practice violates state law and creates safety and traffic problems that are especially dangerous on a bridge with no shoulders and nowhere for backed-up traffic to go.
All 26 drivers stopped during the operation received a citation for disregarding the traffic control devices that require commercial vehicles to stay in the right lane on the bridge, WBRZ first reported. Troopers found four additional safety violations during the inspections, and one driver was placed out of service.
The Right-Lane Rule Isn’t New
Trucks have been required to stay in the right lane on the Basin Bridge for years as part of a broader effort to cut down on the crashes that regularly shut the bridge down for hours at a time. The right-lane restriction remained in place even after the state standardized the bridge’s speed limit at 60 mph for all vehicles in 2024, doing away with the old split limits that had trucks moving slower than cars.
The bridge itself was designated a highway safety corridor under a 2022 law, a status that authorizes doubled fines for speeding. First-time violators can face fines up to $175, with repeat offenders risking penalties as high as $500, Land Line Media reported when the corridor designation took effect. State lawmakers debating the bill had specifically flagged the truck lane rule as one of the harder problems to enforce on a bridge with almost no room for troopers to safely pull vehicles over.
A Bridge With a History of Backups
The Atchafalaya Basin Bridge carries tens of thousands of vehicles a day between Lafayette and Baton Rouge, and it has no exits and no real shoulders for most of its length. When a crash or a stalled vehicle blocks a lane, traffic backs up fast and stays backed up, since drivers caught in it have no way off the bridge until the obstruction clears. KPEL News reported a similar scenario in April, when a two-truck crash blocked a westbound lane for hours.
What Comes Next
Louisiana State Police said the enforcement detail along the Basin Bridge is not a one-time event. The agency said proactive enforcement efforts will continue in an effort to keep traffic moving and improve safety on the corridor.
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Gallery Credit: Joe Cunningham
