Country Living in the City: Why Hooper Road Bridge Is Key to Our Future

CENTRAL — Building a new bridge across the Amite River at Hooper Road is clearly one of the most important single things that could happen to this community for two reasons:

• This new bridge could carry 26,000 cars a day and significantly reduce the traffic which has become a serious problem for Central.

• Second, this bridge can unite Central and Watson as an important economic unit, which will have far-reaching implications for the future.  With the bridge, the two communities will be five minutes apart, and we  will become an economic power of 50,000 people.

That’s why the Hooper Road bridge is so important.

Unfortunately, none of this works, if the bridge is built as a Toll Bridge.

Here’s why:

• The way the bridge will help with Central’s traffic problems is by pulling 26,000 or more cars each day off Magnolia Bridge, Florida Boulevard, and I-12.

The problem is, if the Hooper Road bridge is a Toll Bridge, most of those cars won’t come to Hooper.  The cost will seriously deter motorists from using the bridge. Traffic would improve but not much.

• Similarly, if we want Central and Watson to be one economic unit, where people can easily shop in either place, we can’t charge a toll to travel between the two communities.  People simply won’t come so often.

Money is tight today.

People can’t afford an extra $40 to $60 a month in tolls.  It’s unrealistic, and it won’t work.

In Louisiana, tolls have been placed on major bridges and causeway, but not on relatively small projects like the Hooper Road bridge.

The Hooper Road bridge is the No. 1 highway need in the Capital Region, and our legislative delegation simply needs to fight for it.

If they can’t get funding for the No. 1 capital need in the region, then we need to find replacements who can.

The monumental unfairness of a Toll Bridge at Hooper will become increasingly apparent, if our legislators pursue that path.

People will rebel against it.

We are already paying 38 cents a gallon in gasoline taxes.  What is that money going for if not the No. 1 transportation need in the region?

The only appeal of a toll is that it would be a “quick fix” and might get the bridge built a little earlier.

But what about after that?

We’d be paying this toll for the next 30 years or more!

Our great-grandchildren will be paying it.

No one else in the state will be paying tolls for similar projects but people in Central and Watson will.

No!

It’s a bad idea.

The Highway Priority Program of DOTD is a good program that is based on traffic studies and building projects based on actual, demonstrated need.

This project meets all the criteria.

We just need to work the system that is already in place.

We also oppose the Toll Bridge because it would be built by a commission and bypass the standards and safeguards of DOTD.  It would be able to award contracts to build the bridge, and we fear special interests would smell a goldmine.

We should stick with what works, and DOTD and its standards and safeguards have proven to be reliable.

We note the positions being taken by the candidates running for the legislature from the Central area.

We agree with those who say build the Hooper Road bridge but fight to pay for it from our existing gasoline tax money — not from a never-ending toll!

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Remember to vote this Saturday.  Our fathers and grandfathers fought and died so that we could enjoy the right to vote on our leaders and have a free country.  We owe it to them to vote!

By Woody Jenkins, Editor, Central City News