I-10 Calcasieu River Bridge. Photo by Brooke Thorington
State Transportation and Calcasieu Bridge Partners have reached a new agreement on a public-private partnership to construct a new Interstate-10 Calcasieu River Bridge in Lake Charles. DOTD Secretary Joe Donahue said tolls charged to motorists have also decreased from the original plan.
“It took a lot of different moving parts to get everything into place but in the end, I think that what we were able to work out turned out to be a great deal, significantly improved from what was under consideration before,” said Donahue.
Governor Landry touted the project had been renegotiated and costs had been reduced by more than 20%. Donahue explains expenses related to right-of-way acquisition, utility relocation, wetland impact mitigation, and others that the state is responsible for have been lowered.
“We are still getting the same bridge that was going to be built under the original agreement but those retained costs that taxpayers were going to have to fund, those have been reduced by 25%,” said Donahue.
The entire project has an estimated price tag of $2.1 billion. Donahue said the retained costs dropped from approximately $415 million to $281 million.
“Being able to avoid the railroads that are located near the bridge, and some pipe racks from industry that are in the area, and that will reduce the time it will take to construct the bridge and the amount of work it takes to accommodate construction,” said Donahue.
Construction could begin as early as this year and is expected to be completed in approximately seven years.
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