By james art (Central Square) — The Louisiana Department of Transportation met with the Joint Transportation Committee on Wednesday to open the floor to discuss priority projects in the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
One important plan was missing from their report: the Mississippi River Bridge project.
The goal of the project is to build a new bridge or multiple bridges from State Route 1 in Plaquemin to State Route 30 in St. Gabriel across the Mississippi River to ease traffic in the Greater Baton Rouge area.
The reason it wasn’t in the package is because it’s separate funding from the other projects, but Iberville Parish President Chris Daigle thinks they should have more information on its progress.
“That should be in those documents,” Daigle said of the new bridge project.
Although the original plan suspected the project would not be completed until 2031, Daigle also expressed concern that funding would continue to be pulled from the project, further delaying its completion.
“I would strongly oppose taking away any of these funds and changing the statute, because what you’re going to do is delay a project that’s already been delayed for over 30 years,” Daigle said. “The Baton Rouge region needs this bridge to happen.”
Daigle said $200 million of the $500 million originally committed has already been withdrawn from the project, leaving $300 million in the wings.
With the project expected to cost $1.2 billion, DOTD Secretary Joe Donahue says the funding isn’t there to move forward, but Daigle suggested they go ahead and start with $300 million and find those other sources of funding over the next seven years.
There are many projects in East Baton Rouge that have reached the leasing process for the next fiscal year, which means they are awarding contracts for projects in the pre-construction stage as well.
These include building bike and pedestrian lanes near US 61, installing drainage structures on State Route 410, and most importantly, widening State Route 30 or Nicholson Drive to four lanes with medians.