BATON ROUGE, La. – The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development has announced it will lease the corner of Florida Boulevard and Rushmore Drive to the Chrysler Corporation as an official off-road testing site for Jeep’s Wrangler development team.
The intersection, which has remained untouched by repair crews since the Clinton administration, features a unique blend of craters, exposed rebar, and what one local described as “a small ravine system.” Jeep engineers said the site rivals Moab, Utah, and called it “ideal for simulating tank warfare.”
“This is basically Jurassic Park meets Florida Boulevard,” said an LADOTD spokesman. “Rather than waste 5 years on studies, then 1 month fixing it, we saw a business opportunity.”
Jeep plans to erect a branded watchtower, offer public test drives, and introduce a new “Baton Rouge Edition Wrangler,” which includes reinforced shocks, dental insurance, and a complimentary chiropractor visit with every purchase.
When news of the Jeep lease broke, local drivers breathed a sigh of relief. One man estimated that avoiding the intersection would save him at least $350 a year in vehicle repairs. “I can finally delete the Monroe Shocks link from my bookmarks,” he said.
LADOTD added that if this pilot program succeeds, they were entertaining a similar lease with Monster Jam for the nearby intersection of Florida Blvd. and Ponderosa which is purported to be actually worse.
