“This is an amen moment.”

That is the way Slidell Mayor Ben Morris described the opening of the Fremaux-Interstate 10 interchange during a ribbon cutting ceremony Monday.

After almost 30 years of trying and $21.5 million, the new exit from I-10 at Fremaux is finally open to traffic. Actually, it was opened to traffic Sept. 25, but the Department of Transportation and Development made it official Monday by bringing local politicians together for the ribbon cutting. The ribbon cutting took place on Lindberg Drive, the eastern service road for I-10. The interchange is the fourth exit/entrance to Slidell along the I-10, joining the interchanges at Gause Boulevard, Old Spanish Trail and Oak Harbor. The Fremaux interchange not only opens up Fremaux Avenue to more traffic, it also replaces an old two-lane bridge with a new four-lane overpass over the interstate to connect U.S. Highway 190 to east Slidell and the Rigolets. The service roads on each side of I-10 have also been improved and connected. The entire project took two years to complete, starting in July 2006.

“This will give easier access to City Hall, Northshore High School and Olde Towne,” said state Sen. A.G. Crowe.

Morris said the interchange has been a long time in coming to Slidell.

“I moved here in 1976, and people were talking about the interchange back then,” Morris recalled. “Now it’s here, and it is great for the city.”

The interchange was originally intended to ease the traffic congestion on Gause Boulevard. In a week and a half of operation, Slidell police have noticed a change in traffic patterns.

“It seems to me that it has eased a lot of traffic on Gause,” Slidell police spokesman Capt. Kevin Foltz said.

Crowe, who based several of his campaigns on getting the interchange built, said it has made his commute a lot easier when he goes to work in the morning.

But the Fremaux interchange will do a lot more than ease traffic congestion in Slidell. Since construction has started on the interchange, Birmingham, Ala. developer Bayer Properties has started construction on the $1 billion Summit Fremaux, right at the base of the new interchange. The project will turn 400 acres of empty land into retail shopping malls, office space, housing and the University of New Orleans Tech Park. Morris said the interchange was essential for the developers to start work.

“If there had been no interchange, the Bayer project would not have occurred,” Morris said.

City officials also hope the new interchange will make Fremaux Avenue a real gateway to Slidell and rejuvenate Olde Towne at the end of Fremaux.

STARC board member Mary Dubuisson sees the interchange also as a way to rejuvenate businesses along Fremaux Avenue, especially the STARC Dry Cleaners at 40016 U.S. 190 East. The dry cleaner hires residents with disabilities.

“This is just so good for all the businesses on Fremaux,” Dubuisson said.

The James Construction Group handled the project, and Morris praised the company for doing a great job without interfering with local traffic.

That’s not to say there weren’t problems. Project manager Chet Chautin said that weather caused some delays. The interchange was to have opened last June, but things like a couple of hurricanes and a lot of rain delayed completion.

“We had to use a lot of clay for the embankments,” Chautin said, “and with all the wet weather, it was kind of rough.”

James Construction Group Chief Operating Officer Danny Hester said getting materials shipped in after Hurricane Katrina was slow and painstaking, and that added to delays.

Still, nobody was really complaining about the delays. Everybody was happy the interchange was finally working.

“I never thought this would be a reality,” Parish Councilman Gene Bellasario said. “But it will rejuvenate the entire area.”

DOTD spokesman Brendan Rush estimates the interchange will handle about 30 percent of the 32,000 vehicles that use the Gause interchange daily.

“It definitely will relieve traffic on Gause,” Rush said. He said the DOTD will wait a couple of months to let things settle down before they will make an actual count of vehicles using the Fremaux interchange.

Though the roadway is open, Rush said construction workers are still cleaning up, planting grass and putting in fences and signs. This should take another two months, so Rush said motorists should use caution when using the interchange.