BATON ROUGE, LA – After nearly a decade of lawsuits, studies, engineering reviews, and public outrage tied to the catastrophic 2016 flood, Louisiana transportation officials announced Tuesday that the redesigned Interstate 12 barriers near Walker were finally in the works after what sources described as a “highly informative” visit to a local 3rd grade science classroom.
According to DOTD engineers, the breakthrough came during a lesson covering the water cycle, where the teacher reportedly explained that water typically continues moving instead of piling up indefinitely against giant concrete walls.
“We honestly hadn’t considered that,” said one DOTD official while holding a child’s crayon drawing labeled “Rain Goes Here.” “She introduced us to several advanced concepts, including drainage, flow direction, and openings then treated us all to some delicious fruit punch juice boxes.”
The redesigned barriers will now reportedly include spaced gaps allowing floodwater to pass underneath the interstate instead of redirecting directly into nearby neighborhoods.
State officials say the educational field trip has already inspired several future infrastructure upgrades, including sending bridge inspectors to a middle school physics fair and requiring all future bridge projects to first be reviewed by at least two children with an extensive amount of Lego experience.
