Toll or Free Bridge? Senate Candidates at Odds Over Hooper Road Bridge

CENTRAL — State Senate District 6 candidates Bodi White and Mike Mannino agree that building a new bridge across the Amite River is the top infrastructure need in Central but they strongly disagree on how to fund it.

Mike Mannino said Tuesday night the bridge is the highest priority in the Capital Region, and it should be funded by the existing 38 cents per gallon paid by motorists in gasoline taxes.  It should be built through the existing Highway Priority Program, he said.

But Bodi White said, if necessary, he is willing to support by-passing the Highway Priority Program and building a Toll Bridge.  He introduced a bill to create a commission to levy a toll, expropriate property, determine the route, determine where interchanges will be, and decide who will have gas stations, restaurants and other businesses along the route.  The bill provides that the commission would award the contracts to build the bridge and adjacent roads, rather than DOTD.

At Tuesday’s debate before the Central Community Alliance at the Central High Theatre, White said, “Would you rather pay $1 or sit in traffic all day?”

But, in a separate statement, Mannino said a Toll Bridge across the Amite River is a half-baked idea.  “There are many reasons against making this a Toll Bridge,” he said.

“The first objection is pretty obvious.  The purpose of the Hooper Road bridge is to get people off the Magnolia Bridge, but if there’s a toll on the new bridge and no toll on Magnolia Bridge, many people are going to keep using Magnolia Bridge.”

“The traffic engineering study conducted by the Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce showed the bridge across the Amite at Hooper as the No. 1 priority in the Capital Region.  The study shows that it would be used by 26,000 cars a day.  But that study is for a free bridge — not a toll bridge.  A toll bridge probably wouldn’t get half that much traffic.”

“The Highway Priority System took highway construction out of politics.  It is based on actual demonstrated need.  We have demonstrated that need, and we must simply push this project up to the top of the priority list.

“We are already paying the gasoline taxes for this bridge, and it would be an enormous rip off of the citizens of Central and Watson to make them pay for this highway twice — once in taxes and a second time in a toll.”

“There are no tolls anywhere else in the state on a project of this magnitude.  Why would we allow them here?  It would mean that every time — for the next 30 years — that anyone crosses that river, they would have to pay a toll.  What a legacy!  This is not a big project.  It can be funded in the normal way we fund highways and bridges — through the Highway Priority Program.”  “I am very much against the commission Bodi White is proposing.  It is very much like the Loop — a so-called public-private partnership — with vast power.  It includes representatives of the Mayor, the Central Chamber of Commerce, and so on. The would be letting contracts — with all the politics involved — rather than DOTD.  This would by-pass all the safeguards that state law provides when DOTD lets contracts.”

But White said the state has a backlog of $13 billion in construction projects, and the bridge might not be built.

Mannino said, “Construction on this bridge will begin within the next four years, and that’s a promise.  But it won’t be a Toll Bridge, and it won’t be a free bridge either, because we are already paying for it with our gasoline taxes.”

Senate District 13

In Senate District 13, incumbent Sen. Dale Erdey said he will support either a toll or free bridge, depending on what people want.  But he said, “Financing the new bridge with tolls could prove to be a faster approach to construct the bridge and thereby accelerate traffic mitigation.”

However, his opponent, Derek Babcock expressed strong opposition to a Toll Bridge.
He said, “I oppose a Toll Bridge at the end of Hooper and will work hard to ensure a free bridge is at the top of the Highway Priority Program list.”

House District 64

In House District 64, both Barry Elkins and Valarie Hodges oppose a Toll Bridge.  Elkins said, “I oppose a Toll Bridge across the Amite River at Hooper Road because I believe it is another form of tax.”

Valarie Hodges said, “I oppose a Toll Bridge.  In a struggling economy, people cannot afford to pay to cross the Amite River.  I support a free bridge built in accordance with the Highway Priority Program.”

White said it would cost $70 million to build a new bridge and $30 million for roads.  White said, “Capital outlay or a small toll, it will be up to you.”

One thing seems certain: Who gets elected Saturday could have a big impact on whether the new bridge over the Amite at Hooper Road is a Toll Bridge or a free bridge.