re: Bernhard says he will finance loan for new Mississippi River Bridge in Baton Rouge

quote:

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The "new" bridge gets around 120k daily traffic but most of that is traffic coming from i-12 or to the core of BR. The old bridge gets around 20k daily traffic, and the sunshine bridge even less than that.

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Does it matter where most of the 120k a day is coming from? If that many are crossing the "new" BR bridge then slap a toll of $1.50-$2.00 each way on that baby.

And when the Sunshine Bridge closed, I read that up to 25k people cross it each day. Having sat in detour traffic from that closure 3-4 times, I can guarantee you 100%, without a single doubt, that you could place a toll of the same amount each way on the Sunshine Bridge and people who cross it every single day wouldn't bat an eye to that. I can't imagine what those poor people who have to cross that bridge each day have been going through on a daily basis since the closure. I bet they wish there was another bridge nearby and they'd gladly pay for a third bridge.

Also, $1.50x120k a day = $180,000 a day
180,000 x 365 = $65,700,000 a year
$65,700,000 x 10 years = $657,000,000 just from the "new" BR bridge

25k Sunshine Bridge drivers paying $1.50 each would result in an additional $136,875,000 over 10 years.

Total just from those two bridges equals $793,875,000 over 10 years. Let's get the feds to pitch in the rest and suddenly a brand new bridge somewhere between Donaldsonville and Baton Rouge becomes a very, very real possibility.

I don't see why this is so hard.