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Capital Area Roads & Bridges asks council to allow polling on Mississippi River bridge funding
Summary
An appointed designee for the Capital Area Roads and Bridges District asked the parish council to permit a public poll on possible local sales taxes to help fund a proposed new Mississippi River bridge; he said the district is not asking for endorsement of a tax, only permission to gauge public receptivity.
Wally Rivera, a designee for the Capital Area Roads and Bridges District (CARBd), briefed the Livingston Parish Council on Aug. 14 and asked that the district be allowed to poll parish residents about potential local funding options for a proposed Mississippi River crossing south of Interstate 12.
"CARBd was created in 2018 for the purpose of planning, finance, and building of the new Mississippi River bridge crossing and connectors," Rivera said. He described the project area as south of I-12 and north of Sunshine River Bridge, connecting LA 1 to LA 30, and said CARBd has narrowed preliminary crossing alternatives to three locations and expects an impact evaluation phase to finish by 2025.
Rivera said federal and state funds will be available but local funding likely will be required from tolls or local taxes. "The sales tax route, the 5 parishes will be voting independently for the taxes. And only the parishes that approve the taxes, vote of the people will provide the funding for the project," he said. He asked the council to allow the district to spend grant money already secured to perform a poll to gauge public receptivity to a sales-tax funding approach.
Rivera emphasized that permitting a poll is not a tax endorsement by parish government: "Make no mistake about it. I speak for myself, Parish President Randy DeLat and many of you that I've spoke to, that Livingston Parish government in no way endorses any type of tax proposal for this project. We just allow them to take a poll and get the pulse of the people." He directed residents to a project website, mrbsouth.com, for more information.
Council members did not take a recorded vote on the request during the meeting; Rivera told the council the CARBd board would itself vote on allowing the polling to proceed. He encouraged council members to refer questions to the project website and indicated CARBd will hold public meetings in each parish after the environmental and impact evaluations are complete.
The bridge project remains in planning stages; earliest optimistic construction completion would be 2033, Rivera said, and timing will depend on funding decisions, bridge type and permits.
