In 1989, the Louisiana State Legislature realized that they were going to have to make some significant improvements in their transportation infrastructure if the state was to remain competitive in the year 2010. To meet the challenge, they established the TIMED program, which took a 4-cent per gallon tax on every gallon of fuel and oil that was sold in the state. This money was set aside to pay for major projects that would otherwise not be funded. The program is slated to raise over $4-billion during its lifetime.

One project that is funded by the TIMED program is the The John James Audubon bridge, which will connect New Roads, Louisiana, with St. Francisville, Louisiana. The project includes this 2.44-mile long cable stayed bridge and approximately 12 miles of 2-lane highway. The cost is expected to be about $350-million, and it will be complete mid-2010.

While neither of the two cities in question are large or well known, the area along the Mississippi River is heavily industrialized, and further out, there is extensive farming. The current ferry river crossing is often somewhat unreliable, with the only other option being a round-trip to Baton Rouge. It is expected that the new bridge and access roads will spur additional development in this area.

Note—renderings are from the Louisiana TIMED Program (www.audubonbridge.com), and are copyrighted by the Louisiana TIMED Managers (2006).

These two images are photos taken from near the site of the new bridge. The image above shows the river just to the north of the new river crossing. In fact, the three smokestacks from the power plant can be seen in this photo, which can be correlated with the smokestacks in the first rendering above. The image below is of the ferry boat that currently serves the local population. On the day that I had hoped to cross the river, the ferry boat was down for repairs.