COVER STORY TheLINKS WEAKEST

BY SAM BARNES

South Louisiana’s confluence of waterways, rail, pipelines and interstates was undoubtedly the reason for industry to locate here. Unfortunately, the “to do” list of infrastructure enhancements needed for the state to remain competitive is problematically long.

The $1 trillion federal infrastructure bill, passed in late 2021, provided a glimmer of hope for some of Louisiana’s backlogged projects, as it came with a promise to funnel billions to states and local governments to upgrade outdated roads, bridges and transit systems. Of particular note was the bill’s intention to repair and rebuild thoroughfares and bridges, meliorate airports and ports, invest in passenger rail, improve infrastructure resiliency and fortify the power infrastructure.

For Louisiana, it has freed up funding for some long-delayed, long-overdue projects.

Nevertheless, Shawn Wilson, former secretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, says getting the most out of any infrastructure funding measure will require strategic alliances among multiple infrastructure modes. “We need to leverage our resources and work together, whether that be industry, the ports, roads, etcetera to create a plan, and we need to be able to fund that plan to remove bottlenecks and maximize efficiencies,” Wilson says.

Unfortunately, the state must play catchup first. As recent as 2022, Louisiana continued to receive low national marks on its infrastructure—a D+ from the American Society of Civil Engineers—based upon data collected by a team of more than 50 civil engineers who studied 11 major components of the state’s infrastructure for more than 18 months.

That has had dire implications for the industrial sector along the 10/12 corridor. “When you look at our 16,000 miles of roads, 12,000 bridges and six Class 1 railroad and airports … our economy is based upon the infrastructure that we have, not the infrastructure that we need,” Wilson says. “We’re faced with a difficult decision: whether to maintain what we have today or invest in the next five to 10 years in a new mobility solution. It’s a problem brought about by generational inaction.”

Of course, roads and bridges are just one piece of the infrastructure puzzle. Waterways, ports, rail and power each have their “weak links” in need of attention.

SORE SPOTS: BATON ROUGE AND LAKE CHARLES

There are perhaps no bigger “weak links” in the state than the I-10 bridges in Lake Charles and Baton Rouge. They’re well-known daily sources of congestion, primarily because they were built at a time when traffic counts were significantly lower.

George Swift, president and CEO of The Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance, says it’s no secret that the I-10 bridge replacement in Lake Charles has been a top priority for years. The bridge was initially constructed in 1952 with a predicted 50-year life span and traffic load of 37,000 crossings per day. Today, the average daily crossings exceed 80,000.

“Everyone in industry is concerned about the condition of the bridge,” Swift says. “Even though it’s structurally sound, the bridge is unsafe because of steep inclines, no turnoff lanes and no lights. That’s our number one project, and I’ll put that up against any in the state.”

Highlighting its importance at the federal level, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg visited the site in February to announce the awarding of a $150 million grant to help fund the replacement of the outdated bridge. In total, about $800 million has been allocated for the bridge so far.

Unfortunately, the costs continue to escalate.

“The cost estimate was originally $800 million,” Swift says. “Now, it’s $1.5 billion. We’re hoping to get this executed this year, because the longer we wait the more it will cost.”

The public-private partnership (P3) project will span from the I-10/I-210 west interchange to the east side of the Ryan Street exit ramp, as well as improve LA 378 from I-10 to Sulphur Avenue in Lake Charles. The state is expected to select a developer for the project by fourth quarter 2023, with construction slated for 2025.

Apart from the bridge, there are other weak links in need of attention, Swift says. “We’ve had billions of dollars of investment in the LNG facilities in Cameron Parish, but we’re relying on a ferry to cross the ship channel,” he adds. “A bridge over the ship channel is what’s needed, but we need to start working on that now, because that could take many years.” He also points to several two-lane feeder roads that need widening to adequately service the industrial market.

No progress has been made on the efforts to date. “It needs to be on our radar,” Swift says, “and it becomes more evident virtually every week.”

Scott Kirkpatrick, executive director for the advocacy group Capitol Region Industry for Sustainable Infrastructure Solutions,

or CRISIS, says while there has been some progress among all three “core” infrastructure needs identified by his group in 2016—a new $2 billion I-10 bridge south of Baton Rouge, the $72 million widening of I-10 through Baton Rouge and a $1 billion surface road program—the condition of the city’s infrastructure remains severe.

I-10 through Baton Rouge to the industrial corridor has remained a source of congestion and traffic slowdowns for years, significantly impacting the flow of people, goods and services. “Some progress has been made,” Kirkpatrick says. “The widening of I-10 in Ascension has been completed and that was an early win for us. There are some other surface projects—for example, the I-10/ Picou Lane Interchange that’s under way—but we’ll have to wait a while before the full benefits are realized.”

He’s most excited about the

“tremendous momentum” building around the proposed new Mississippi River bridge south of Plaquemines. Currently, the project is in Phase 2 of environmental assessments, and the eventual location of the bridge has been narrowed to three locations, all south of Plaquemine and crossing the river into St. Gabriel.

Kirkpatrick expects a final location to be selected within the next two years. “We think the public-private partner solicitation process will begin in 2023,” he adds. “It’s a long process, but DOTD has indicated the process will be begin this year.”

Ascension Parish hopes to be ready for the bridge when the time comes. Robert Burgess, president of the Ascension Chamber of Commerce, says additional infrastructure will be needed in