By james art BATON ROUGE – DOTD Secretary Joe Donahue met with state legislators for the final stop of DOTD’s annual Road Show to discuss highway construction priorities and upcoming projects.
Today’s conversation focused on some of the major projects impacting the Capital Region, including the New Mississippi River Bridge.
Iberville Parish President Chris Daigle and City of Gonzales Chief Engineer Jackie Baumann discussed the project for a new bridge over the Mississippi River that will connect La 30 and La 1, as well as upgrades to La 30 itself.
“La 30 is and always will be Gonzales’ number one priority, so we humbly ask for continued support for improvements to La 30,” Bauman said.
Daigle also discussed the project and the need for the bridge.
“The Baton Rouge region needs this bridge to happen and the delay, there has to be alternative sources at the federal level or whatever those funds have to come from for the 30 widening,” Daigle said. “I’m told that EBR is working on something that will connect from where the possible bridge will go to EBR, and then we’ll have to work with Iberville and Ascension to make sure we do that.”
Donahue says the project is entering an environmental phase that will help determine the best location by the end of next year.
The full meeting document is available here.