ST. TAMMANY PARISH, La. (WGNO) — Five bridges stretching along US 90 near the Louisiana-Mississippi state line have been undrivable since May 2022 with no solution to repair them in sight.
While this stretch of highway didn’t see much traffic most of the time, it has been an important alternate route to Interstate 10 for those trying to get to or from Mississippi during hurricane evacuations.
“Any given day, you’re going to have an accident on Interstate 10 going toward Mississippi, which could back the interstate up for anything up from an hour to multiple hours and there’s no other routes around that,” said State Representative Brian Glorioso.
To help speed up the repair process, several House representatives proposed a resolution urging the state to re-open the bridges.
However, when it comes to replacing these structures, the estimated cost is high.
“The DOTD believes that they need to be completely replaced, which they do and it’s a $350 million project. Well, it’s very difficult to fund that type of project in Louisiana without federal assistance,” Glorioso said.
For now, legislators say they are going to look at more short-term solutions while they continue to work to find the funding for a full replacement.
“We can get temporary repairs in place for passenger vehicles. At least we’ll have an evacuation alternative route available, and it’ll be available for our citizens for when the interstate backs up, which is a fairly regular occurrence,” Glorioso said.
Those working on the resolution say they hope to get those short-term repairs complete by the next hurricane season.
“I have faith that we can do it if we put our minds to it and we can get some help essentially from the federal government on funding, but it is an important corridor for not only evacuations but generally this area when we know there is a choke point on the interstate and it backs up a lot,” Glorioso said.
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