Roadblocks remain for Louisiana’s Interstate 10 Calcasieu River Bridge project on the path to federal appropriations, and U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) this week urged Gov. John Bel Edwards to do what he can to remove them.
“I appreciate your focus on the infrastructure needs of Southwest Louisiana, yet I have several concerns regarding the incomplete environmental impact statement and the fact that no absolute plan for a new bridge or its footprint has been made public,” Higgins wrote to the governor this week. “As you know, progress towards a new bridge has increased drastically since 2017, and I have made it clear that my congressional office is focused on this project at the federal level. However, having a final project scope and a completed environmental impact statement are significant milestones that remain incomplete at the state level. Promising $85 million in funds puts much-needed skin in the game for the state, but further action must be taken to clearly define the project, architecturally and financially, before any funds can be used or before the project is eligible for federal assistance.”
The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LADOTD) and the Division of Administration have worked to introduce the 2020 Capital Outlay bill which would provide the $85 million in general obligation funds. Those would go toward a new bridge in the area. Currently, the program lacks an environmental impact statement, finalized plan and project footprint — all requirements for federal appropriations — and funding is also held up by an ongoing legal battle the State has initiated against local industry.
The latter, Higgins said, has been a serious factor in delaying the bridge, but so has what he indicated was a greater reliance on ideas that concrete visuals.
“With the help of my colleagues, I’ll get Baton Rouge the federal monies… however, I need the finalized plan, the envisioned footprint,” Higgins said. “In hand, actual engineering plans of the bridge, not a vaguely described idea for a bridge.”