Governor Edwards along with DOTD Secretary Shawn Wilson will be joined by U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in Lake Charles this afternoon to celebrate the $150 million grant to help replace the Calcasieu River Bridge. Wilson said the funding is part of the Infrastructure Act.
“This makes it the largest grant in the history of the Department of Transportation, and we’re the fourth largest mega grant in the entire country,” said Wilson.
Wilson said this project is one of a few that received the special allocation of funds to help reduce the cost to the state and taxpayers of the Calcasieu River Bridge.
And Wilson said the U.S. Department of Transportation will announce the approval of $1.5 Billion in private activity bonds that will help lower the cost of the project to the developer.
“Which will then translate to lower costs per citizen as we build this bridge. So, there’s lots of good news,” said Wilson.
It was almost two years ago when President Biden visited Lake Charles with the Calcasieu River Bridge as a backdrop as an example of what the Infrastructure Act could improve. Wilson said the bridge was created to handle 37,000 crossings a day but now has more than 80,000 daily crossings.
“President Biden, before this bill was ever passed, made it a point to stop in Louisiana and highlight the importance of this infrastructure and the need for a new bridge to replace the 70-year-old bridge that exists today,” said Wilson.
And Wilson said they will also be breaking ground on the Nelson Road Bridge in Calcasieu Parish. He said it’s a $101-million-dollar project that involves relocating rail to get to the Port of Lake Charles and it will also connect south Lake Charles with the other side of the Contraband Bayou to get closer to downtown.
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