DOTD to give update on status of Interstate-10 Calcasieu River Bridge project Tuesday

Published 4:42 pm Monday, August 21, 2023

The official presentation detailing the plan to build the Calcasieu River-Interstate 10 Bridge — including tolls — will be heard by state legislators Tuesday in Baton Rouge. A local delegation of legislators will attend, according to State Rep. Les Farnum. Local trucking company owners and owners of companies who depend on trucks will also speak.

Farnum said the delegation would like to see the project postponed until a new administration can “offer a view from a different lens.”

“No action will be taken at this hearing,” said Rep. Phillip Tarver. “This is a presentation of information and public testimony.”

The proposed project is a new bridge that includes a 5.5 mile corridor going from near Ryan Street in Lake Charles to the Interstate 210 interchange on the west side of Lake Charles, according to the DOTD.

Gov. John Bel Edwards and Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Eric Kalivoda announced earlier this month the state has selected Calcasieu Bridge Partners for negotiations for the $2.1 billion public-private partnership project.

In public-private partnerships, the private entities enter the agreement to mitigate investment risk and make money.

In addition to a new bridge and approaches, the project includes the interstate roadways and ramps, the I-10 service roads, and interchanges at PPG Drive, Sampson Street, and North Lakeshore/Ryan Street that connect the interstate to state roads and local streets. Sampson Street will be elevated over the railroad tracks to eliminate blockages from trains.

Tolls will range from 25 cents for local motorists during non-peak hours with a toll tag to $18.73 for non-toll tag large trucks.

The Louisiana Motor Transport Association released news of the tolls ahead of the Louisiana DOTD earlier this month, with an email stating the tolls “disproportionately burden the transportation trucking industry with funding the project.”

Pat Hay, Hay Brothers Trucking says he doesn’t want to “pay for a bridge he already paid for once.”

He will be attending the hearing. Hay said the people of Calcasieu and the state of Louisiana paid for the bridge to be built in 1952, and when the interstate was completed in the ‘60s, the bridge was transferred to the Interstate System with the understanding it would be replaced when needed.

Andrew Guinn, chairman of the board for Port Aggregates, will also attend. He said he remembers asking his father why the state would give away the bridge it just built and his father telling him that it wasn’t a bad deal, as the bridge would be replaced.

Guinn is pulling numbers together to present to the Joint Committee and said it’s looking scary, he said. The toll tally for ash and cement (to make concrete), alone will be $400,000 per year. He’s still working the numbers for sand, concrete trucks and limestone, but he estimates that in tolls alone, his operating expenses will go up $1 million.

The tolls could increase the price of a yard of concrete by $4, he said, which would affect the cost of new home builds.

Hay has looked at numbers, in general. He said based on old data from the state – the numbers could be higher now – 30,000 trucks cross that bridge every day. A medium truck with a toll tag will pay $2.50 to cross and $3.75 if the medium truck does not have a toll tag.  A large truck will pay $12.50, $18.73 without a toll tag. (A medium truck is a Class 4,5 or 6 truck. A heavy truck is a Class 7 or 8 truck, a truck with a gross vehicle weight rating of 26,001 and above.)

“Multiply that by 365 days a year times 50 years,” Hay said.

Tolling could last for 50 years, and will rise with the cost of living.

Hay said courts have voided the disparity of toll rates in other states, which means autos could end up paying more here.

A public hearing will be held in Lake Charles on Aug. 31, and the matter will go back before the Joint Legislative Committee for their decision.