Construction to replace Louisiana’s most notorious bridge on Interstate 10 could finally begin this year, ultimately clearing a national chokepoint for cross-country commerce.

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry and his Louisiana Department of Transportation Secretary Joe Donahue this week announced a financial “notice to proceed” for the new $2.3 billion Calcasieu River Bridge in Lake Charles.

“Since I took office in January, my administration has remained committed to getting this critical project off the ground,” Landry said in a statement. “Reaching the notice to proceed is proof of that dedication to the people of Louisiana, as well as our continued drive to improve and modernize Louisiana’s infrastructure.”

President Biden and former President Trump have both identified the existing 72-year-old Calcasieu River Bridge as a symbol of America’s aging infrastructure.

The old bridge, a narrow, steep structure, is an iconic landmark with more than 5,000 crossed flintlock derringer pistols on both side rails, but it provides a white-knuckle ride for those driving the vehicles that cross it.

It’s rated 6.6 out of 100 by the National Bridge Inventory and there were unconfirmed rumors that the Secret Service wouldn’t let Biden cross it when he visited Lake Charles in 2021.

The old bridge was built to have a 50-year capacity and carry about one-third of the 90,000 plus vehicles that cross it today.

Its reputation is national.

In 2019 then President Trump promised if he was reelected, “We’re going to build a new I-10 bridge (in Lake Charles).”

“It impacts our supply chain for the entire country,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told USA Today Network in 2023 when he visited Lake Charles to announce a $150 federal grant from the bipartisan Infrastructure Act.

Now the funding, about $1.2 billion federal and state money in hand with the balance to be raised in tolls after the new bridge is built, is finally locked down.

“A new bridge is long overdue, and clearing this hurdle puts our state closer than ever to seeing construction on this essential project,” Donahue said.

The state signed the public-private partnership agreement with Calcasieu Bridge Partners in January to build the new bridge, a project that’s 5.5-mile footprint will stretch from Lake Charles to Westlake. The Louisiana State Bond Commission approved the sale of private activity bonds for the project at its July 24, 2024 meeting.

Estimated construction time is seven years.

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Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Along a stretch of the Plaquemines Parish east bank, the Mississippi River is providing what coastal activists see as a no-cost coastal project.

In recent years, the river has plowed through its bank and transformed a tiny channel into the equivalent of one of the ten largest rivers in the U.S.

Neptune Pass is taking an estimated 16 percent of the Mississippi River flow during high water periods, according to Corps hydrologists.

In the process, groups active in the fight to restore Louisiana’s coast argue the river is providing a practically no-cost diversion.

“It is a restored ecosystem happening for free before our eyes,” said James Karst, Director of Communications and Marketing for the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana.

Neptune Pass, they say, is depositing sediment and creating new sections of delta in both Bay Denesse and Quarantine Bay.

Not everyone is thrilled at the prospect of nature taking its new course.

Shipping interests complain the pass has already affected navigation, causing the slower-moving river downstream to build sandbars.

The Corps, which initially had planned to close the channel entirely, now envisions a dual purpose for Neptune Pass.

A draft environmental assessment envisions a two-part approach to protecting the integrity of the main river channel: a stone sill at the water bottom with a 100-foot-wide notch to reduce the outflow from the river; and 20 V-shaped mounds to further reduce the velocity of the water moving into Quarantine Bay.

The Sediment Retention Enhancement Devices, or “SREDS” as the Corps calls them, would be built of earthen material, geotextile fabric, and stone riprap.

“We allowed an opening to allow river flow and sediments to leave the river and deposit in the bay, in the receiving area,” said David Ramirez, a Corps hydrologist.

Critics of river diversions have questioned whether the new land forming in the bays was merely land that had been displaced as the river widened the channel over the years.

While computer modeling suggests that displacement has accounted for about 70 percent of the new delta, Ramirez says the remaining 30 percent has been built from sediment deposited by the river.

“The more wetlands we have between where we live and the Gulf of Mexico, the more natural hurricane protection that we have,” Karst said.

Commercial fishing interests have complained large amounts of fresh water pouring through not only Neptune Pass, but other cuts on the east bank, have dramatically altered salinity levels and devastated oyster harvests.

“There’s some innovative ideas in the report, but at the same time, there’s a lot of scientific questions that still remain,” said Alex Kolker, a coastal scientist with the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium.

Kolker wants more detail about how the proposal would affect the river’s flow, whether SREDS would simply sink over time, and how long the flow would be sufficient to build land.

Under the Corps plan, Neptune Pass would take six percent of the river flow.

“Right now, we don’t have enough science to fully evaluate whether or not this is gonna work,” Kolker said.

The Corps is taking public comments on the proposal through the end of the month.

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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday ordered officials at the Louisiana State Penitentiary to increase shade and take other steps to protect prisoners doing agricultural labor from dangerous heat.

U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson’s order reinforced a similar one he issued in July. This one cites photographs showing inmates in the fields of a former slave plantation with a single pop-up tent for around 20 men, little protection from the sun and nowhere to sit. The photos were provided by Voice of the Experienced, the advocacy group that sued over conditions for inmates working the “farm line” at the immense prison farm in Angola.

“Taken at face value, Plaintiffs’ allegations in this matter have portrayed the State of Louisiana in a harsh and unflattering light. Defendants contribute to this depiction with their apparent obstinance towards proposing meaningful changes to conditions on the Farm Line,” Jackson, based in Baton Rouge, wrote.

A spokesperson for the state corrections department said officials would not comment until they had time to fully review Jackson’s order.

Jackson’s latest order said there were 50 instances of inmates reporting illnesses from July 2 to Aug. 5, with seven requiring emergency medical treatment. He ordered more tents be provided and that they be erected close to where prisoners are working. He also ordered that some form of seating be made available and that workers be given 15-minute breaks every 45 minutes when heat alerts are in effect.

State corrections officials appealed Jackson’s original July 2 order in the case. A panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals pared some of the original ruling but kept some key requirements intact while the appeal continues. As he did on July 2, Jackson declined to halt farm line work during heat alerts.

The litigation over farm line conditions comes amid growing nationwide attention on lucrative prison labor systems with roots in the era of slavery. A two-year Associated Press investigation linked the supply chains of some of the world’s largest and best-known companies – from Walmart to Burger King – to Angola and other prison farms, where incarcerated workers are paid pennies an hour or nothing at all. Several companies, including Cargill, have since said they have cut ties or are in the process of doing so, with prison farms or companies that use incarcerated labor.