Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Could tolls help finance a new Mississippi River bridge? Here's how much they'd cost drivers
The Advocate ^ | February 5, 2019 | Will Sentell

Posted on 02/07/2019 12:16:48 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Toll revenue would pay for only 17 percent of a new bridge across the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, a top state official said Tuesday.

Eric Kalivoda, deputy secretary for the state Department of Transportation and Development, made the comment during the first meeting of a panel seeking ways to finance a new bridge, which would cost about $1 billion.

The seven-member panel features leaders of five parishes in the Baton Rouge area, including East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome.

Kalivoda's comments reinforced what officials knew coming in — paying for a new bridge is a huge financial and political challenge with no easy answers.

DOTD Secretary Shawn Wilson, a member of the commission, said there is a misconception that toll money can handle the brunt of the costs.

Kalivoda told the group that although more research is being done, at least 75 percent of the financing would have to come from other sources even if the impact of tolls is revised upward.

The tolls could range from $3 for passenger vehicles to $8 for heavy trucks, according to state estimates.

What the state envisions is a six-lane structure with four-lane approaches on each side connecting La. 1 to La. 30 south of the new bridge.

The current structure — known locally as the "new" bridge even though it is a half century old — is the source of daily backups, motorists' anger and business disruptions.

About 150,000 cars and trucks cross the bridge daily, according to DOTD.

State Sen. Rick Ward, R-Port Allen, a sponsor of the bill, said problems sparked by bridge traffic have to be addressed.

(Excerpt) Read more at theadvocate.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Louisiana
KEYWORDS: batonrouge; construction; funding; i10; infrastructure; localnews; louisiana; mississippiriver; p3; ppp; taxes; tolls; transportation
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-37 next last

1 posted on 02/07/2019 12:16:48 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: BobL; sphinx; GreenLanternCorps; oldvirginian; knarf

PING.


2 posted on 02/07/2019 12:17:49 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Modern feminism: ALL MEN BAD!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

...and yet we can’t build a border wall.

BTW, I’ve driven over the I-10 bridge at Baton Rouge over the Mississippi many times and it is a majestic view but your vehicle needs to climb quite the hill in order for ships to pass through underneath. I don’t think I’d chance it under icy conditions.


3 posted on 02/07/2019 1:08:37 AM PST by OrangeHoof (Trump is Making the Media Grate Again)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

I am convinced that all these tolls are intended to stop cross country car travel. They intend to make it so expensive on tolls alone, that nobody would dare try to make a cross country trip by car.

Pretty soon you’ll be stopped every few miles to pay another toll.


4 posted on 02/07/2019 1:51:12 AM PST by DoughtyOne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
If 90% of the vehicles are cars & 10% are trucks at $3 and $8 respectively, that’s $525,000 a day. That means roughly 5-6 years to earn back the one billion dollars, not counting political graft & corruption.
5 posted on 02/07/2019 2:09:02 AM PST by MCF (If my home can't be my Castle, then it will be my Alamo)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MCF

not counting political graft & corruption

so better count on 50-60 yrs.


6 posted on 02/07/2019 2:26:11 AM PST by rootntootn (Boycott Hawaii, the scene of the crime.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: DoughtyOne

“I am convinced that all these tolls are intended to stop cross country car travel.”

If not to get you out of cars altogether.

I live a dozen miles west of NYC, and never go there; among many reasons, the fact that tolls are higher than the minimum wage to cross the Hudson River (in a car). When NYC libs talk about “congestion pricing” in lower Manhattan, they couldn’t make it more clear: They don’t want little people/common folk there. It isn’t as though they are clamoring to close it to ALL car traffic - just people who can’t pay.


7 posted on 02/07/2019 2:47:25 AM PST by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Take it from that bullet train in California.


8 posted on 02/07/2019 3:03:33 AM PST by OrioleFan (Republicans believe every day is July 4th, Democrats believe every day is April 15th.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
A lot of the older bridges across the Mississippi charged tolls when first built, and I dimly remember my dad paying the toll at a couple of them when I was quite young. On at least two of the old toll bridges within an hour's drive, the toll booths were taken down and the tolls discontinued, supposedly because enough money had been raised to cover some set amount that had been agreed on.

If there were still toll bridges on US 20, US 30 and I-80, the drug dealers running in and out of Chiraq would be charging more for crack. Can't have that.

9 posted on 02/07/2019 4:22:14 AM PST by niteowl77 ("I am equally hostile to unbridled power whether exercised by the head or tail of society." - MD)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MCF

“If 90% of the vehicles are cars & 10% are trucks at $3 and $8 respectively, that’s $525,000 a day. That means roughly 5-6 years to earn back the one billion dollars, not counting political graft & corruption. “

Mississippi is a RTW state. Without union involvement, they can build this quickly.


10 posted on 02/07/2019 4:29:49 AM PST by EQAndyBuzz (Millennials are Morons)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: EQAndyBuzz

“Mississippi is a RTW state. Without union involvement, they can build this quickly.”

This is in Louisiana, the poster child for graft and corruption in the South.


11 posted on 02/07/2019 4:47:57 AM PST by oldvirginian ( Buckle up kids, rough road ahead.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

“The tolls could range from $3 for passenger vehicles”

Thanks Tol. The above means to expect roughly $10 to start with with passenger cars, as expenses seem to go up, once they know they have a captive public.

Also, I think this would be the only tolling on I-10, anywhere from Jacksonville to Los Angeles.

Bastards.


12 posted on 02/07/2019 5:23:19 AM PST by BobL (I eat at McDonald's and shop at Walmart - I just don't tell anyone.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: oldvirginian

What, the Mississippi River isn’t in Mississippi?

;-)


13 posted on 02/07/2019 5:28:30 AM PST by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: DoughtyOne

?????

No


14 posted on 02/07/2019 5:31:33 AM PST by bert ( (KE. N.P. N.C. +12) Honduras must be invaded to protect America from invasion)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
How much money has the US spent rebuilding Iraq?

The CBO estimated that of the $2.4 trillion long-term price tag for the war, about $1.9 trillion of that would be spent on Iraq, or $6,300 per U.S. citizen. The most recent CBO report, which was conducted after the end of combat operations and hence did not have to estimate future costs, was released in December 2014.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=money+spend+building+in+syria+and+Iraq+-+hotels+bridges+roads

15 posted on 02/07/2019 5:41:24 AM PST by GOPJ (We renew our resolve America will NEVER be a socialist country. We are born free we will STAY free!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MCF

You forget, it is Louisiana.


16 posted on 02/07/2019 6:11:36 AM PST by crusty old prospector
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: OrangeHoof

Fortunately, the area seldom experiences icy conditions - climbing a hill is far better than to get backed up waiting for a draw bridge. When Katrina took out the bridge between Biloxi and Ocean Springs, MS, they did the replacement right and arced it high enough to dispense with the draw bridge...when you have a drawbridge, you also have the occasional deal when a big barge has a “oopsie” and bangs into part of the structure, causing a long period of long alt-routes, with back-up traffic from the extra ‘flow” along the alt-route, as they inspect and/or repair the structure.


17 posted on 02/07/2019 6:19:50 AM PST by trebb (Don't howl about illegal leeches while not donating to FR - it's hypocritical.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: 9YearLurker

“What, the Mississippi River isn’t in Mississippi?”

Just kinda brushes past it for a spell. :P)
But Baton Rouge definitely ain’t in Mississippi. :0)


18 posted on 02/07/2019 8:14:15 AM PST by oldvirginian ( Buckle up kids, rough road ahead.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: EQAndyBuzz

I-10, Baton Rouge, La., Mississippi River

19 posted on 02/07/2019 8:31:41 AM PST by deport
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: niteowl77

The Sunshine bridge was built as a toll bridge. It was unsuccessful because it was a political boondoggle built in the middle of nowhere. Maybe they could link from I-10 to the Sunshine bridge on the west bank.


20 posted on 02/07/2019 8:39:20 AM PST by PAR35
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-37 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson