re: Toll revenue would only pay 17% of the cost of a new Mississippi River Bridge

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From the article:

Cost: $1,000,000,000 (DAMN)
Number of vehicles a day: 150,000 (DAMN)
Toll: $3 for passenger vehicles / $8 for trucks (say $5 average) (that's expensive - may see significant traffic decrease which could impact the numbers below)

So if the traffic stayed constant:

Daily toll revenue: 150,000 x $5 = $750,000 A DAY (DAMN)

Days to make $1 billion = 1,333 days (3.65 years)

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150,000 vehicles use the current 'new' bridge daily, that's not what they project to use a newer one.


And the St. Francisville bridge isn't quite apples to apples because it doesn't have to have the same clearance as anything downstream of the current 'new' bridge.

Why can’t we just enforce a $100 fine for every 18 wheeler that gets in a wreck on the top of the current new bridge? We could have a billion in a few months.

And every elected official in the State and their families & friends will have a free pass to cross.

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Toll revenue would pay for only 17 percent of a new bridge across the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge,

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over a period of how long?

How was the St. Francisville bridge paid for?

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What the state envisions is a six-lane structure with four-lane approaches on each side connecting La. 1 to La. 30.

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so the dumbass state envisions widening 110/10 and then in a few years opening a bridge with more lanes causing another bottleneck entering BR? brilliant!

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There is some St. francisville baw who’s about to come in here and start condescendingly telling us we don’t know traffic design and that bridge is serving its purpose and that it’s not a waste of money.

I distinctly remember him and would live for him to come here and again explain why a 10’s of millions of dollars bridge was needed for 7.34 vehicles per day

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well since you asked. Let me link you AGAIN to the article detailing the origin and reason behind the AB:

LINK


since you're reading comprehension sucks, I'll post a few quotes for you:

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The Audubon Bridge’s construction was part of the state’s Transportation Infrastructure Model for Economic Development Program, which was established by Act 16 of the 1989 legislative session. The program is funded with a dedicated 4-cents-per-gallon, voter-approved gas tax.

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DOTD spokesman Rodney Mallett said the projection models for the Audubon Bridge were based on the number of people who used the old St. Francisville-New Roads ferry system, a diversion of a percentage of travelers from the U.S. 190 bridge and Natchez bridges and a redistribution of the current traffic patterns at the time with annual increases in traffic volume.

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Mallett said the TIMED Program included 16 specific projects aimed at spurring economic development in Louisiana, not traffic congestion relief.

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now read all that very slowly and think about what it says. The AB was never supposed to be an alternate route to the MRB. It was never conceived nor designed with the MRB traffic flow/volume in mind. So to that point, it serves its intended purpose. Your beef aint with that bridge or its construction.
Your beef should be with EBR and WBR/Ibberville officials whose myopic view can't allow them to plan further out then their weekend. They are the reason you sit in traffic and have only one route over the River.

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So I wonder what the estimates are for daily traffic on the new toll bridge? If it is even half of that you are still talking about $300k+ in revenue a day

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The projections I've seen show only about 30-35% of the traffic taking the new tolled route. I would bet that this investment would need to look at around a 25 year term.

This "private investment" idea they keep throwing around is nothing new. It's called a Public Private Partnership. The method has been around for a long time. I don't understand why the media and other info outlets won't use the right term.

Like someone else said, you have to factor in interest, operations and maintenance costs into the overall investment also. Plus, the investor is not doing this for fun. He is in it for a profit also.

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how was the St Francisville bridge paid for

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Around 1985 La residents approved a 4 cent per gallon gasoline tax for a fund named TIMEd which was a fund used to address a list of big infrastructure improvements

Like most state bonded construction projects once bonds were sold the cost increases started and finally took a bridge construction originally projected at $50M to a finished project that cost $500M .

Once taxpayer backed bonds are sold, cost overruns must be approved because taxpayer bonded project can not be allowed to fail !

I do not understand why this isn't a federal issue since I 10 is an interstate highway. The amount of commerce that travels through is astounding.

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Where is this new-new bridge supposed to be located?

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I don't think a location has been agreed upon yet. And that's one of the major hurtles the project will face. Same with a loop. Seems none of the politicians in the 4 parish area can agree on where to put another route over the MR. I'm guessing they haven't figured out how to personally gain from it, so they wont agree to it.

I'm sure that's why the state guy is saying this toll bridge won't work. someone is not getting a cut, so they are fighting it until they do.