Terrebonne General | Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center Launches Support Group for Patients Undergoing Treatment
July 11, 2023
Here are TPPL’s Summer Reading Program activities through the end of July
July 11, 2023
Dear Governor:
The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LADOTD) closed the West Pearl River Bridge on U.S. Hwy 90 on May 24, 2022 after inspectors found that the deterioration of the steel truss had reached a point where it was no longer safe for the traveling public. Clearly, LADOTD knew of the bridge’s deteriorating condition, as they perform regular inspections on bridges throughout the state. However, the businesses and citizens who depend on this bridge for commerce and transportation along the Louisiana/Mississippi coast were completely caught off guard by the closure, as was our legislative delegation.
With a $45M appropriation for design and development work for the West Pearl River Bridge in this year’s 2023-2024 Highway Priority Program, planning has finally begun to replace this bridge, with an estimated letting date of 2Q 2025 and a completion date of 2028, according to LADOTD.
While we appreciate the funding to begin this project, quite frankly this work should have been done a long time ago. Louisiana is the 7th worst state in the country based on our percentage of structurally deficient bridges, with over 12% of our bridges being classified as structurally deficient—that’s an alarming 1571 bridges out of 12,733 bridges across the state (Source: Federal Highway Administration National Bridge Inventory 2/1/23). We must start proactively prioritizing bridge maintenance, repair, and replacement work BEFORE bridges are closed, rather than reacting after it is too late. There are roughly 125 bridges currently closed across the state. Our citizens deserve better.
We are requesting that the West Pearl River bridge replacement project be expedited as much as possible because it is one of two designated hurricane evacuation routes heading east from Slidell. Having a replacement bridge in place five hurricane seasons from now, if everything proceeds on schedule, is not acceptable. Memories of Hurricane Katrina and the poorly-executed evacuation plan are still vivid in the minds of citizens in our community.
Experts have predicted that this year will be a more active hurricane season than normal. Should southeast Louisiana or southwest Mississippi residents need to evacuate for a hurricane, the only other east/west evacuation route available is I-10. Significant traffic problems currently exist on I-10 with the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) doing repair work near the state line on the East Pearl River Bridge. This work is reportedly going to take a month to complete and is during the peak of hurricane season. The timing couldn’t be worse. Now residents have NO ability to evacuate to the east/west without heading north first. Perhaps former LADOTD Secretary Wilson could have avoided the simultaneous shutdown of both east/west evacuation routes if he had coordinated with MDOT prior to a five-year or more closure of the West Pearl River Bridge, a major hurricane evacuation route for coastal residents.
Finally, please revisit the state’s hurricane evacuation plans to ensure that residents in southeast Louisiana are given priority in any early evacuation orders or contraflow plans to enable them to safely evacuate while these two east/west hurricane evacuation routes are restricted.
We are happy to discuss this in more detail at your convenience.
Respectfully,
Sharon W. Hewitt
State Senator, District 1
Robert “Bob” Owens
State Representative, District 76
