BATON ROUGE – Monday, the Capital Area Road and Bridge District met to get updates on the new bridge, only to find little progress had been made.

The list of potential locations, squeezed down from over 30 to 17, is now back up to 20 after the firm in charge decided it ruled out three prematurely.

West Baton Rouge Parish President “Pee Wee” Berthelot became a little frustrated with the move backward.

“People want to know why you need to study it so much, why study, study, you get tired of studies, and it’s hard to give them an answer, particularly when you seem to be edging forward, and then now we’re going backward. I think now we should be around maybe six or seven routes on the table right now,” he said.

Even after a location is secured, federal funding still needs to be allocated—the state expecting a billion dollars for bridge work over five years, but more than three billion is needed to fix the state’s current bridges.

So far, no priorities have been set.

“We have not submitted a priority list because we are still waiting on rules and regulations,” Sec. Shawn Wilson said.

The firm in charge is still anticipating the list of locations to be narrowed down to three by the summer.

The list of potential locations, squeezed down from over 30 to 17, is now back up to 20 after the firm in charge decided it ruled out three prematurely.

West Baton Rouge Parish President “Pee Wee” Berthelot became a little frustrated with the move backward.

“People want to know why you need to study it so much, why study, study, you get tired of studies, and it’s hard to give them an answer, particularly when you seem to be edging forward, and then now we’re going backward. I think now we should be around maybe six or seven routes on the table right now,” he said.

Even after a location is secured, federal funding still needs to be allocated—the state expecting a billion dollars for bridge work over five years, but more than three billion is needed to fix the state’s current bridges.

So far, no priorities have been set.

“We have not submitted a priority list because we are still waiting on rules and regulations,” Sec. Shawn Wilson said.

The firm in charge is still anticipating the list of locations to be narrowed down to three by the summer.

The next step in the process is getting public input.

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Original Article by Bess Casserleigh • Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE – It’s the same story, a different day: drivers fighting bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Horace Wilkinson Bridge. 

“The traffic is terrible, every day the I-10 bridge is backed up, LA 1 where we live in WBR parish is backed up 2 to 3 miles every day. It’s just a constant traffic thing we need to handle. Prolly should’ve handled it years ago, but we’re still fighting it today,” Riley Berthelot, West Baton Rouge Parish President said. 

One day, the Capital Area Road and Bridge District hope it will become a thing of the past. They held a meeting Monday to further discuss a potential location for a new bridge. 

The general area for the project is based between the Horace Wilkinson, Sunshine Bridge, Hwy 30, and LA 1.

“We felt it was important to allow the data to drive the decisions and to screen the alternatives. And while it’s very tempting for us to say this is probably unreasonable, this is probably not gonna move forward, we didn’t want to be arbitrary, biased, we wanted to let the data drive the decision,” said one member in the meeting. 

So far, 15 of those locations have been eliminated, and 17 remain. They hope to narrow it down to three or four before the next meeting. 

Another part of the conversation included funding for the project. Lawmakers passed the largest infrastructure bill the state has seen in 37 years. 

“Starting in 23-24, we’re going to take 30 percent of the vehicle sales tax that is already existing now but flowing into the general fund……. that amounts to about 148 million dollars,” a senator said during the meeting.

Once the bridge is built, drivers will most likely have to pay a toll to get across. 

“As Senator Ward said, there is gonna be a toll on this bridge. There’s no getting out of that,” Dr. Eric Kalivoda, Deputy Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development said.

As for these plans coming to fruition, it could be another two or three years before a final decision is made.

You can find more information on the project here. 

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Original Article by Falon Brown • Source: WBRZ

While much attention of late has been focused on the uncertain fate of President Biden’s massive infrastructure stimulus package, currently stalled on Capitol Hill, a congressional committee worked literally through the night Thursday on a separate bill that includes money for specific bridge and highway projects in Louisiana, including a new Mississippi River bridge in Baton Rouge.

U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, initially requested $1 billion for the new bridge as somewhat of a headline-making political move to draw attention to the amount of money in the infrastructure bill not going toward bridge, road and highway repairs.

While Graves may have wanted to make a point with his request, it survived the marathon markup session, as did several other Louisiana earmarks.

Read on for the rest of the story from the June 10 edition of Daily Report. 
Source: 225 Magazine

Iberville Parish has launched an interactive website leaders hope will strengthen their efforts to convince federal and state officials that any new Mississippi River bridge to address the region’s growing traffic needs happens in their parish.

And, as a bonus, the site gives real-time traffic information to online visitors.

Members of the Iberville Parish Council on Tuesday night were given their first glimpse at the new website from Parish President J. Mitchell Ourso’s administration.

“The site is about getting information out and how to get the public involved so we can stay in the eye of the ‘powers that be’ so Iberville stays in play for a bridge,” the parish’s finance director, Randall Dunn, told council members at the meeting. “Unless someone makes it a priority on the federal level, it’s never going to happen.”

Dunn said the idea for the website was pitched by Ourso, who believes it’s the best way to give the public a visual snapshot of the issue.

“I just had a dream that we need to get our name out here for this bridge,” Ourso said later in the meeting. “We want to be able to control our own destiny.”

A few months ago, Ourso revealed he hired consultants with the TJC Group to lobby state leaders on Iberville’s behalf regarding the proposed bridge. It was a move that received sharp criticism from elected officials in neighboring West Baton Rouge Parish who are convinced their parish is a more logical choice for any new bridge.

West Baton Rouge Parish officials want the decision over where to build a new bridge to be guided by data proving it would ease the growing traffic congestion along La. 1 on the west side of the Mississippi River and not because Ourso may have the political advantage.

But in March, an engineering firm hired by Ourso presented data to parish leaders claiming that two proposed bridge locations in Iberville would decrease traffic by more than 30 percent along the La. 1 corridor between Iberville and West Baton Rouge parishes and divert nearly 10 percent of the vehicles using the Interstate 10 bridge every day.

Read full story
by Terry Jones at the Advocate

PLAQUEMINE — Iberville Parish leaders have said building a new Mississippi River bridge in their parish is the most logical solution to addressing some of the region’s traffic issues. And Tuesday night they had their theory confirmed by a new traffic study paid for by the parish.

The study, conducted by Baton Rouge engineering firm Neel-Schaffer, asserts a new bridge located in Iberville would have the greatest impact on reducing traffic along La. 1 and the Interstate 10 Mississippi River bridge — two pressure points for daily traffic snarls in West Baton Rouge Parish.

The Neel-Schaffer report, which was presented Tuesday to the Iberville Parish Council, claims two proposed locations in Iberville would decrease traffic by more than 30 percent along the La. 1 corridor between the Iberville and West Baton Rouge parish line and divert nearly 10 percent of the vehicles using the I-10 bridge every day…

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by Terry Jones at the Advocate

If Iberville Parish President J. Mitchell Ourso has a white whale, it’s in the form of a new Mississippi River bridge connecting his divided parish.

It’s elusive prey the longtime parish president has been stalking for years. He wants a bridge to help solve some of the region’s vexing traffic woes, and he specifically wants it built in his parish.

Now, Ourso has turned to consultants to lobby state leaders on the parish’s behalf to see that his dream becomes a reality and to fend off any effort to build a new bridge elsewhere.

“I’m not going to let this happen without Iberville getting its fair share,” he said. “Iberville needs a bridge, and that’s the way it’s going to be.”

Ourso disclosed last week that the parish is spending approximately $2,500 a month on consultants with the TJC Group to help lobby state leaders on the parish’s behalf…

Read Full Article Here
by Terry Jones at the Advocate

A business and industry group lobbying for major upgrades to the Baton Rouge region’s transportation grid on Tuesday identified $3 billion in key highway improvements it says would unclog the capital city’s perennially stalled roads.

The cost-benefit analysis from CRISIS says multiple projects are needed, but the highest benefit would come from boosting highway capacity over the Mississippi River by building a new bridge costing up to $1.6 billion and increasing use of the U.S. 190 bridge.

While Capital Region Industry for Sustainable Infrastructure Solutions officials suggested tolls could contribute to funding for the bridge and some other projects, the group’s executive director said new revenue sources — likely a higher gasoline tax — still would be necessary to provide the hundreds of millions of dollars a year needed to pay for the projects.

“These are not cheap projects, but what we found out from the analysis is they provide a tremendous bang for the buck, and if we’re smart about it, we can really transform how the region really moves,” said K. Scott Kirkpatrick, executive director of CRISIS…

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by David J. Mitchell at the Advocate

As the state and business groups mull the best location for a new Mississippi River bridge location south of Baton Rouge, Ascension Parish officials continued to press for a crossing south of Plaquemine that officials in neighboring Iberville also want.

Just days before another public comment period ends Monday on the long-churning Baton Rouge Loop environmental review process, the Ascension Parish Council petitioned federal highway officials for the Plaquemine crossing to remain in the highway’s final proposed corridor.

The 90- to 105-mile, toll-funded beltway would encircle the Baton Rouge area with interstate-style highways and two river crossings.

The Ascension Parish Council has once before stated its preference for the Plaquemine crossing, but the final proposed Loop corridor now up for comment eliminates that crossing in favor of two spots upriver in West Baton Rouge Parish.

In a resolution the council approved unanimously Thursday, Ascension Parish officials cited a future Plaquemine bridge’s proximity to riverside industrial facilities compared with preferred crossings upriver near Brusly and Addis.

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by David J. Mitchell at the Adovocate

Traction is starting to build for a proposed new four-lane highway on the west side of the Mississippi and a new bridge across the river, but the speed bump on the plans may be the estimated price tag: $1.65 billion.

Talk of the new West Side Expressway and bridge began in earnest about five years ago, but the state Legislature only this year approved $1.65 million for a feasibility study of the proposed expressway, which would begin at Interstate 10 west of Port Allen and run to La. 1 south of Plaquemine.

A new Mississippi River bridge that’s part of the project would go from the west bank, between Plaquemine and White Castle, to the east bank, south of Baton Rouge.

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by ellyn couvillion at the Advocate

The multibillion-dollar Baton Rouge Loop project is on track and moving forward, Mayor-President Kip Holden said Monday after a meeting of the Capital Area Expressway Authority.

“This project is not dead by any stretch of the imagination,” Holden said. “We’re still on track for what we had originally proposed.”

The loop is a proposed 85-mile toll road surrounding Baton Rouge that supporters say will alleviate traffic problems.

Last year, the loop project took multiple blows when three of the five parish presidents serving on the authority’s board of directors — Ascension’s Tommy Martinez, Livingston’s Mike Grimmer and Iberville’s J. Mitchell Ourso Jr. — resigned.

A few months later, Gov. Bobby Jindal used his line-item veto to delete $5 million of state spending.

Mike Bruce, managing principal of ABMB Engineers which is one of the lead firms on the loop project, said it’s unclear if the loss of state money affected the timeline.

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by Rebekah Allen at the Advocate