re: New Orleans Causeway looking at increasing toll from $3 dollars to $4 dollars

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the bridge is in desperate need of areas where vehicles can pull over, as well as improved safety rails along the southbound span.

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safety bays, or shoulders, be added to the bridge at regular intervals, with six on each span.

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The 672-foot-long stopping areas would be spaced between the existing crossovers and would provide space for drivers to move their cars out of the travel lanes. The cost would be about $60 million

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installing rails on top of the concrete barrier along the southbound bridge. The vast majority of accidents in which vehicles careen off the bridge into Lake Pontchartrain happen on the southbound span, where the barrier is only 25 inches high, 6 inches lower than on the northbound side.

Adding the rails would cost about $40 million, bringing the total for the recommended improvements to about $100 million, Dufrechou said.

Securing 30-year bonds for that amount would likely require tolls to increase by $1, he added.

Causeway officials have been pondering safety upgrades for several years. The ideal solution, Dufrechou said, would be to add a lane to each span. But that would cost nearly $2 billion.

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