Leaving the occasional dine-out at 7-Seven Noodle Bar inside the Horseshoe Casino, I am often perplexed that I actually trust that tin can of a bridge I’m looking up at. And when I am driving on it, which is in the neighborhood of ten times a month, I am reciting the Glory Be’s to my guardian angel that he take care of me in these precarious forty seconds as I cross.

Click on the picture for a campaign video:

When the current I-10 Calcasieu River bridge opened for traffic in 1952, it was designed for a fifty-year life span and a traffic load of 37,000 vehicles per day. Presently, the average daily crossings are over 90,000. Structural concerns are notorious, as even Donald Trump commented on it in a speech here in 2019. Building a new bridge has been a topic of debate for decades now, but the political will and the adequate funding have, perhaps not surprisingly, never materialized. More and more Americans are recognizing exactly where our funds have been allocated, and any awakening we are having on a national level concerning legislators and their behind-the-scenes, nefarious deals can be applied at the state level as well. The fact that we are still talking about replacing what looks more like a mashup of rickety two-legged All-Terrain Scout Transports from Return of the Jedi says all you need to know about state and American politics. Here was the basic picture back in October:

A $2.1 billion public-private partnership to build a toll bridge over the Calcasieu River near Lake Charles was derailed in a legislative committee on Tuesday.

The Legislature’s Joint Transportation, Highways and Public Works Committee voted 8-6 mostly along party lines against approving a public partnership with Calcasieu Bridge Partners, a group of several prominent design construction firms, with Republicans opposed.

State law requires approval from the Legislature.

The vote follows concerns from local representatives, residents and Gov.-elect Jeff Landry about replacing the 71-year-old bridge with a new one that would toll motorists for 50 years to help pay for it.

The vote to reject the partnership will cost taxpayers $2.75 million for a contractual stipend to Calcasieu Bridge Partners and leaves the state with two options to replace the aging structure: a design-bid-build pay-as-you-go process that would stretch beyond 2060, or a state-owned toll option that would complete a new bridge around 2039, Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Eric Kalivoda told the committee.

DOTD officials have said they could extend the [current] bridge’s life by two to three decades with a roughly $200 million to $300 million rehabilitation.

In one of the few things Donald Trump and our current White House resident Joe Deadhorse Biden (as our intrepid publisher Scott McKay has taken to calling him) ever agreed on, both noted the deterioration of the bridge and the need for a new one. Trump went so far as to promise the bridge back in 2019 if he were to be re-elected in 2020.

One problem appears to be the DOTD’s commitment to doing their job. Moving forward under Landry’s leadership, the DOTD must pursue available federal funds more aggressively to build our state. Said Scott back in October:

…[I]t’s crucial for the next head of DOTD has to have the mentality that DOTD has been guilty of criminally wasting money and operating far too slowly to effectively serve the taxpayers, and that the days of demanding more and more money for the same lousy service must end.

Because the status quo crowd simply wants more in gas taxes to fund the same poor performance and the same lazy approach to road construction and maintenance.

If that’s [Rep. Mark] Wright, fine. If it’s somebody else with the same attitude, maybe from a private-sector or even military background, that’s fine too. But Landry doesn’t want to put somebody in place who isn’t willing and focused on a revolution in how DOTD works.

It’s time to get aggressive.

Incidentally, as this article was being drafted, Governor Landry posted the announcement of the new secretary of DOTD, Joe Donahue.

Welcome to the team! https://t.co/UvetLo8c54

— GovJeffLandry (@LAGovJeffLandry) January 23, 2024

The bridge build project found new life late last week, less than two weeks after Landry was minted the new governor. Southwest Louisiana legislators announced support of the new plan that is a “significant shift from the previous administration’s approach.”

What anybody hears when they read that is there was something either incompetent or suspicious going on with the money, which is yet another hit to public-government trust. Moreover, as this project has been punted to the next year and the next administration and the next the next the next, all over the last 20-30 years, there are folks reportedly in private companies making a fortune through endless environmental and feasibility studies. Such lack of transparency and delays in a project that so clearly subverts common sense will automatically anger any citizen already maddened by government politics and the private companies associated with them.

According to State Senator Mark Abraham (R-Lake Charles), by 2031, we should be able to drive across an impressive new I-10 Calcasieu River Bridge. Abraham was among the lawmakers who helped reach a deal on a public-private partnership to build the bridge.

Governor Landry emphasized the need for transparency and productive infrastructure development such as the bridge. His proposal includes a 25 percent reduction in costs from the deal John Bel Edwards’ administration made, and it brings in a toll system with a flat discounted rate, one that apparently will gradually decrease over the seven-year build period, for all local drivers. Tolls have been of particular concern since the beginning of Edwards’ plan, particularly with large truck drivers. McKay had this to say about tolls back in October:

Toll roads and bridges definitely have their uses. Louisiana should probably build a lot of toll roads and bridges in the future. The problem is that they’re an awful idea to put on interstate highways, and the Edwards DOTD has been trying to force those tolls down the throats of legislators for years.

So when the committee voted down the toll bridge in Lake Charles there was a lot of caterwauling – ignorant caterwauling, at that – about how it was a partisan ploy to deny Edwards credit for building infrastructure. Here was the Democrats’ candidate for state treasurer Dustin Granger, who from now on we’ll call Tolls Granger, screeching about how the project got voted down…

 

Wright popped Granger for that…

 

I’ll say this about the Louisiana taxpayer again: all of that squabbling, no matter where the truth is, just makes people distrust all aspects of government. When you’ve seen enough of our roads never getting fixed, our teacher salaries never increasing and the schools never improving, and then throw in all the billions and trillions of dollars going all over the globe to take care of everyone else’s problems, it is no wonder that people are maddened by their government officials. And when you take into account how prevalent the American taxpayer’s understanding of money-laundering is now, it is also no wonder that people will wonder where exactly that extra 25 percent was going to go under Edwards’ original plan.

Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter perhaps best illustrated the mixed emotions of those who have followed this story for so long.

The Joint Transportation Committee meets January 30 to approve the contract. The guess is that they will.

And then we can look back at Edwards and ask him why Landry was able to get us that much better a deal in just a couple of weeks while it took him eight years to offer a wasteful bridge plan.

Let’s hope the state’s budget and capital outlay efforts start to contain a whole lot more savings for taxpayers and citizens. It seems like we’ve gotten taken for a ride, and not just across that bridge.

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May everyone named directly or referenced indirectly ask forgiveness and do penance for their sins against America and God. I fight this information war in the spirit of justice and love for the innocent, but I have been reminded of the need for mercy and prayers for our enemies. I am a sinner in need of redemption as well after all, for my sins are many. In the words of Jesus Christ himself, Lord forgive us all, for we know not what we do.

Jeff LeJeune is the author of several books, writer for RVIVR, editor, master of English and avid historian, teacher and tutor, aspiring ghostwriter and podcaster, and creator of LeJeune Said. Visit his website at jefflejeune.com, where you can find a conglomerate of content.