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The new $166 million La. Highway 1 bridge over Bayou Lafourche at Leeville opened last week with a ribbon-cutting ceremony near the foot of the north side approach.
The fixed-span bridge, named for late Greater Lafourche Port Commission President Tommy Doucet, will have a toll of $2.50 per passenger vehicle and $5 for trucks and buses heading south beginning July 27.
Vehicles must have a toll tag to cross, though a one-time crossing can be purchased at a 24-hour kiosk at the customer service center in Golden Meadow located on South Alex Plaisance Boulevard.
Tolls will be used to pay off the debt from building the bridge.
“This is an historic achievement,” said LA 1 Coalition Executive Director Henri Boulet. “It replaces the highway’s weakest link.”
The new bridge, which reaches to 73 feet at the center of its span, replaces a drawbridge that was scheduled for demolition beginning last week, according to Port Commission Executive Director Ted Falgout, who helped found the LA 1 Coalition in 1997 to lobby for money to build a new highway.
The Tommy Doucet bridge will connect to Port Fourchon via the now partially-completed new La. Highway 1, a six-mile, two-lane causeway, scheduled for completion in 2011 at a cost of $138 million.
Another elevated highway replacing La. Highway 1 from Leeville to Golden Meadow would cost more than $300 million, according to Falgout.
At the ribbon-cutting, former state Sen. Reggie Dupre said $600,000 had been secured for preliminary studies on the new stretch of elevated road. The local business community matched the amount, he said.
Dupre credited former state representative and LA 1 Coalition board member Loulan Pitre with making the replacement of the old bridge a priority.
But a number of people had urged the bridge’s construction, Boulet said.
Doucet believed the former Leeville bridge was the greatest threat to the development of Port Fourchon, Falgout said.
After telling former Gov. Mike Foster that the port could not develop without a better highway to provide access, Doucet did not receive support, Falgout said.
He then secured a financial commitment from the port commission.
U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-Napoleonville) said Port Fourchon could only service fishing boats at one time. “Doucet had a dream and vision of putting Port Fourchon on the map,” said Melancon, who worked with the port commission while director of the South Central Planning and Development District.
Falgout said former LA 1 Coalition director Roy Francis also spurred the development of the new bridge. The project was anticipated to take 30 years to complete but was finished in around 10 years, he said.
About current LA 1 Coalition executive director Boulet, Falgout joked, “He can get money out of a turnip.”
Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph called Port Fourchon the most important part of the parish.
“A safe road leading there is critical,” she said.
On the west side, Falgout said marshland was created to mitigate for the environmental effects of the new bridge, which has a span of 300 feet between its piers.
Boulet said the LA 1 Coaltion’s goal is to build the new La. Highway 1 to U.S. Highway 90.
Greater Lafourche Port Commission Executive Director Ted Falgout presents an artist’s rendition of a completed Tommy J. Doucet Bridge to former LA 1 Coalition Executive Director Roy Francis. The La. Highway 1 bridge officially opened last Tuesday. * Photo by KEYON K. JEFF
