Lawmakers in Louisiana approved moving forward with the state's second transportation public-private partnership to replace the 68-year-old Interstate 10 bridge over the Calcasieu River between Westlake and Lake Charles.
The joint House and Senate Committee on Transportation, Highways and Public Works voted unanimously for the P3 project estimated to cost between $600 million and $800 million. To supplement the $85 million the state has set aside for it, tolls will be placed on the new bridge.
"The time is now to deliver this project as best we can. The cost is only going to increase," Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Shawn Wilson told the committee Dec. 16.
Wilson said he is committed to setting a toll rate that's as low as possible, and if additional state or federal funds become available that will lower the amount drivers must pay.
When the current bridge opened it was designed for a traffic load of 37,000 per day and it had a 50-year life span, according to the I-10 Bridge Task Force, which supports building a new one using a P3.
I-10 is a major corridor that runs across the southern part of the country. Traffic on the existing four-lane bridge has long exceeded 70,876 vehicles daily, Wilson said. The bridge has also experienced corrosion, loss of steel sections, warping of plates, cracking and loss of concrete on the deck.
"This is the bridge that people are afraid to drive over sometimes," he said. "It does not look very appealing but it's a safe bridge in terms of its integrity because of the dollars we've spent over the years" to maintain it.
The bridge is subject to frequent repairs, it doesn't have shoulders and it does not meet current bridge design criteria, Wilson told the committee.
Environmental studies required by the National Environmental Policy Act are underway on a new six-lane replacement bridge that will have shoulders.
Wilson said the procurement process could take up to two years. A concession contract is expected to be awarded in February 2023.
Several lawmakers were concerned about whether local residents would object to tolls on the new bridge, but Wilson said all drivers will pay tolls and share in the cost of the new bridge, not just local people.
Louisiana inked its first transportation P3 in December 2019, after opposition to tolls in Plaquemines Parish nearly derailed it.
The state signed a comprehensive agreement with Plenary Infrastructure Belle Chasse LLC to build the $162 million Belle Chasse Bridge and Tunnel Replacement Project.
The agreement included a 30-year maintenance and operations component after construction is completed on a fixed, four-lane bridge with a 73-foot-high vertical clearance over the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway on Louisiana Highway 23.
