BATON ROUGE (AP) — A 55 mile-stretch of a major interstate corridor from Houston to New Orleans will remain closed until at least Dec. 4 — forcing vehicles onto alternate routes during the year’s busiest holiday traffic season — because of a burning natural gas well.

State officials announced Monday that it will take at least two weeks to extinguish the fire, remove the debris and recap the well so the portion of Interstate 10 between Lafayette and Baton Rouge can be reopened.

‘‘Obviously, this comes at an inopportune time, the busiest week of the year, the busiest travel week of the year,’’ said Louisiana Transportation Secretary Johnny Bradberrry.

The blow out happened last week, when workers for Bridas Energy USA Inc. of The Woodlands, Texas, were drilling for a new well, and the pressure blew the line, which later erupted into flames.

State police initially had expected to reopen the interstate within days of the well blowout in the Atchafalaya Basin, near the Iberville Parish town of Ramah about 300 feet from the roadway. But Col. Stanley Griffin, the chief of Louisiana State Police, said the well was still on fire Monday evening.

Emergency officials said even when the fire is extinguished, the gas, oil and other flammable materials at the well site pose a hazard until the well is recapped.

The traffic disruption comes at the heaviest travel time of the year, during the Thanksgiving holidays and with two large regional football games scheduled: the nationally televised Bayou Classic showdown between Grambling University and Southern University in New Orleans and the LSU/Arkansas rivalry game in Baton Rouge.

‘‘We urge you as a public to be very careful, to be patient,’’ Bradberry warned motorists, speaking at a news conference about the interstate closure.

Bradberry said Louisiana officials were notifying trucking industry representatives and transportation officials in the neighboring states of Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi of the interstate shutdown. Message boards along the interstate posted warnings of delays and alternate travel routes.

If possible, truckers traveling through the state were being asked to reroute to Interstate 20 in north Louisiana.

Traffic between Lafayette and Baton Rouge has been rerouted onto U.S. 190, and police and transportation officials recommended that motorists traveling between Lafayette and New Orleans take U.S. 90.

Bridas hired Cudd Well Control of Houston to contain the blowout and recap the well. Dan Eby, with Cudd, said the process to repair the well will be slow-going, with each step taking ‘‘several days.’’

A state environmental quality regulator said monitoring crews were on site, reviewing air and water conditions and had found no problems caused by the blowout. Bradberry said Gov. Kathleen Blanco has asked for a review of the policies involving well drilling close to major highways to determine whether restrictions should be put in place.

The Louisiana State Police has a hot line to handle traffic questions at 1-800-469-4828.