Another group of St. Tammany Parish elected officials have joined in the push to speed the reopening of a stretch of U.S. 90 at the Louisiana-Mississippi state line.

Commonly known as Highway 90, it runs across south Louisiana but has been closed near the border with Mississippi since 2022 because of the bad condition of a series of bridges that cross various legs of the Pearl River.

The St. Tammany Parish Council recently passed a resolution urging the state Department of Transportation and Development to move quickly to replace the bridges and reopen the stretch of highway. It also asks state and federal authorities to designate Highway 90 as an “auxiliary hurricane evacuation route.”

The state highway department closed it after inspectors said the bridges, which date to the early 1930s, were structurally unsound and unsafe for vehicles.

The highway department has said it plans to replace the bridges, but doesn’t have a timeline. Money, of course, is the big issue: The highway department says replacing all the bridges could cost upwards of $350 million.

The Parish Council’s resolution, adopted at the council’s September meeting, follows similar urgings by the northshore’s legislative delegation. Area elected officials have pointed out that Highway 90 is an especially important alternative east-west roadway when wrecks snarl the nearby Interstate 10 and that it is also a vital route during hurricane season.

“Right now there’s just not any money available,” DOTD spokesperson Daniel Gitlin said.

Gitlin said DOTD understands the project is important and is working to expedite the design, but that at some point money will have to be allocated for it.

“We are fully engaged and cooperating. We’re open to any conversations,” he added.

In August, DOTD put out a notice seeking possible takers for the old bridges. Since they are in the state’s Historic Bridge Inventory, there is federal money available for companies or agencies that will commit to removing the bridges and finding a new use for them.

The St. Tammany Council’s resolution, sponsored by Council members David Cougle, Pat Burke and Jeff Corbin, notes that the council has no authority over DOTD but adds that it does speak for the people of St. Tammany.

The resolution was adopted in a 13-0 vote.

Twice a week in the summer and fall, employees with West Baton Rouge’s mosquito control department — like workers in 31 other Louisiana parishes — set traps for the southern house mosquito, the species that carries the West Nile virus. 

The parishes are looking for information that will tell them where to send their mosquito-spraying trucks. They set up the traps in drainage ditches and near septic tanks, places where the mosquitoes like to lay their eggs. 

In fact, the traps are baited with what’s called “artificial stinkwater” and are designed to attract pregnant female mosquitoes — because only female mosquitoes bite people (and birds) for blood, said George Bragg, director of the West Baton Rouge Mosquito Control department. 

Both male and female mosquitoes feed on plant nectar, Bragg said, but “the females also take blood, because they need the protein to make eggs.” 

The mosquito control workers capture the trapped live insects in nets, then take the nets back to the office and put them in cold storage for 45 minutes, one way to kill a mosquito.

Then comes the important next step: preparing the mosquito samples for testing.

West Nile virus

About 80% to 90% of all West Nile virus cases have no symptoms, the Louisiana Department of Health said. That is one reason why it is important to monitor mosquito populations, according to a recent report. 

Other people with the virus may have mild to moderate flu-like symptoms and don’t feel bad enough to go a doctor or be tested for West Nile, the department said.

Then there is the small fraction of people with West Nile virus who can develop neuroinvasive diseases like meningitis and encephalitis. 

“Due to the severe nature of these cases, they are consistently detected and reported,” the Department of Health said in a report out this week on diseases transmitted to humans by insects this year through Sept. 14. 

According to the report, two deaths from a neuroinvasive disease have occurred in Louisiana during that time period.

Testing process

The testing of the trapped mosquitoes happens at LSU Diagnostics, an animal disease diagnostics lab housed in the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine.

But before that happens, parish mosquito control departments have more work to do. 

After the mosquitoes in the nets come out of cold storage, they are separated by species — there are more than 60 in Louisiana — and gender, Bragg said.

The mosquitoes are then put into vials, anywhere from five to 100 per vial, and sent to LSU Diagnostics.

“Surveillance is a vital part of mosquito control,” Bragg said. 

So far this year, 439 “mosquito pools” in Louisiana have tested positive for West Nile virus, out of 17,000 pools tested, said Alma Roy, Ph.D., a consultant with the diagnostics lab.

The state Department of Health describes a mosquito pool as aggregate samples of more than 50 mosquitoes from the same site.

Roy said the diagnostics lab at the LSU Vet School has been testing for West Nile virus since it first appeared in Louisiana in 2002. 

“We test up to 1,000 vials a week and up to 30,000 vials yearly,” she said. 

When the mosquitoes come in, they are ground up and tested for the genetic material of the virus.

“Not many people know about the lab, but we participate in the public health of the people of Louisiana,” Roy said.

Louisiana state epidemiologist Theresa Sokol said West Nile virus in humans is highly variable from one year to the next.

“The one thing you can count on is it’s unpredictable,” she said.

The West Nile virus season peaks in August, but will continue through the fall months, Sokol said. Testing ends in November.

“In Louisiana, I think, we’re particularly vulnerable, with our hot climate, lots of rain and humidity,” she said. 

“Everybody throughout Louisiana right now is at risk at being infected by West Nile virus.”

She encourages people to take measures to protect themselves against mosquitoes. 

The mosquito control department in West Baton Rouge is one of a handful in the state that regularly post their test findings, Bragg said. 

For instance, earlier this week, the department posted on the parish Facebook page that it had submitted 22 mosquito samples to LSU Diagostics for testing on Monday and two tested positive for West Nile virus. The post continued with the department’s plans for spraying and other measures. 

The numbers posted this week are small and no cause for worry, Bragg said.

The main reason the parish posts the information is that “we want people to be aware,” he said.

“We want to encourage people to do what they can around their yard” to protect against mosquitoes, Bragg said.

Some of those measures, according to Sokol and Bragg: 

• Empty water from all containers around the property at least once per week.
• Get rid of or treat standing water on the property.
• Repair any holes in window and door screens.
• Make sure any gaps around window air-conditioning units are sealed.
• Clean the gutters.
• Make sure swimming pools are well chlorinated. 
• Wear long, loosefitting clothing if possible.
• Wear mosquito repellent. If you wear sunscreen, put on the sunscreen first, then the mosquito repellent. Read the instructions for the repellent and reapply.
• Avoid activities at dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active.