The list of possible sites for a new Mississippi River Bridge should be cut down from 17 to 3 by this summer.
Jay Campbell, chairman of the Capital Area Road and Bridge District, told the Baton Rouge Rotary Club earlier this week that his group expects to hear recommendations from Atlas Technical Consultants, which secured a $5 million contract from the state to study potential bridge locations, between May and June.
This week Gov. John Bel Edwards unveiled a state budget plan for the upcoming year that calls for setting aside $500 million to finance the new bridge project. The budget is packed with surplus dollars from federal COVID-19 relief funds and higher-than-expected tax collections.
A new Mississippi River bridge has become the popular solution to help resolve daily traffic woes in the Capital Region, which are driven in part by slow traffic on the I-10 bridge that connects West Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge parishes.
