Why Are There So Many Wrecks at 220 & 49 Interchange in Shreveport?

For whatever reason, Interstate 49 has been a major issue for Shreveport for a long time now. There's been a decade-plus long battle over the inter-city connector, where to put it and how 49 will tie together throughout our city. But beyond the long-time fight over where to put it, the cost and everything else, there's also problems with the portions that have been completed.

Namely, the new(ish) 49 & 220 interchange. When the stretch officially opened back in 2018, it was estimated that more than 68,000 daily drivers would travel the area. Since the opening of the interchange, there's been one major issue that has bothered Shreveport-Bossier residents - the amount of wrecks in the area. With all the construction on I-20 that has forced more drivers on 220, the problem has just gotten worse. It is quite literally one of the most frustrating, anger inducing and dangerous roads in our area.

Seemingly, at least once a week, there's at least one major accident in general area. And any time it rains, you're almost guaranteed to be stuck in traffic due to at least one wreck. This view is pretty typical:

The road is relatively new and in pretty good shape, at least compared to most of the heavily traveled roadways in our area. It's pretty much a straight shot, so there's not a lot in the way of twist & turns. So, what's causing all these issues & accidents?

I mean, maybe my memory is bad, but I don't remember this many wrecks happening this consistently pre-2018 & the interchange. Is it more drivers using 220 in that specific area, so there's more accidents? Is it because more 18-wheelers are using that section of the interstate due to the road work on 20, which is causing more congestion at lower than posted speeds that's causing people to collide? I really don't know.

But, I'm not the only one noticing the issues in the area. This morning (December 18th, 2024), it took me about an hour to get to the office from my house due to a major wreck in the area. We posted the story on our sites to alert travelers "hey, expect some delays on the way to work today". However, the response to the story, was pretty unexpected.

Since the story went live, we've been flooded with Facebook and app messages with people concerned about driving on this particular stretch of road.

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Here's just a few of the messages we've received in response to the latest major accident on a very particular stretch of road:

"That is the newest, smoothest, straightest section on all of 3132 and 220 but yet has an accident every time it rains. I’ve emailed DOTD a few times and their response was an engineer will look into it. I personally believe the pavement surface was not finished correctly. If you travel that area at night you’ll see that the pavement surface is shiny, similar to a slick garage floor. I have to travel that route everyday and would prefer not to be involved in a preventable accident."

"They need to do something...you can't see the stripes when it's raining because some brilliant person thought putting white stripes on white concrete was a good idea."

"How many wrecks have to happen in the same spots before DOTD realizes that stretch of road is like ICE every time it rains. Heck they might as well keep the guard rail repair crew on standby for the section where it happens regularly"

"Do you think we could get the Department of Transportation to put a camera around the I 49 and I 220 interchange to try to determine what causes accidents on the flattest smoothest part of the Louisiana interstate system? We seem to have multiple wrecks under the overpasses every week. Again, this is the smoothest part of the interstate system and we have multiple wrecks. The question is why"

Again, this is just a small smattering of the comments and messages we've received today alone. I'm no civil engineer and I know nothing about building a roadway...but there's definitely seems to be a problem here. And clearly, I'm not the only one who thinks so either. I don't know the answer or have a solution, but definitely seems like an issue that somebody with some authority should investigate.