Legislators and public officials in Southwest Louisiana and in the Capital Area around Baton Rouge are stepping up efforts to get new Interstate 10 bridges constructed over the Calcasieu and Mississippi rivers. The state has a $14 billion road and bridge backlog, making it unlikely there will be much in the way of state funding to construct the two bridges.
A task force set up by the Chamber/Southwest Louisiana has given the Lake Charles area a workable plan for a new bridge. What it needs now is an accelerated effort by the state Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) to become an active partner in the process.
A seven-member panel in the Capital Area got $5 million from the Legislature to finance the required environmental impact statement for a new Baton Rouge bridge, according to a report in The Advocate. The panel has launched a hunt for a consultant to collect all of the information necessary for constructing a new bridge.
An environmental study would take two years, even if there were money available for a new Baton Rouge bridge, according to Sen. Rick Ward III, R-Port Allen, who sponsored legislation setting up the seven-member panel.
The Lake Charles effort is ahead of the game in that respect since an environmental study has been under way here for some time. Sen. Ronnie Johns, R-Sulphur, sponsored legislation putting potential lawsuit funds from an industrial spill into a Calcasieu Parish Bridge Fund, and he talked about the local environmental study.
Johns said the anticipated timeframe for completion of the project development process and environmental impact statement is estimated to be around the winter of 2020 or the spring of 2021. Both bridge efforts anticipate the use of public-private partnerships (P3s) to construct the two bridges.
The Southwest Louisiana legislative delegation also sponsored a resolution at the recent session directing the DOTD to expedite procurement, planning, engineering, design and construction of a new Interstate 10 Calcasieu River Bridge in cooperation with the Southwest Area Chamber’s I-10 Bridge Task Force.
Rep. Mark Abraham, R-Lake Charles, explained what that resolution does. He said it has enabled this area to get the attention of federal and state officials, the ear of President Trump and better positioning to complete a new I-10 bridge here.
We urge DOTD to move swiftly to get the cost estimate for a new bridge and proposals from private companies that might be interested in working with the state on the project.