Sen. Cassidy says Cenla gets four new bridges in 2022

CENTRAL LOUISIANA (KALB) - Senator Bill Cassidy, one of the authors of the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure act, said a bridge is coming to a river near you. In the case of Central Louisiana, that means four bridges.

Over the next five years, Louisiana will receive $1 billion in funding for bridge projects around the state. This fiscal year, the state will receive $202.7 million of that funding.

According to the governor’s office, there are four bridge projects throughout Central Louisiana that will advance this year due to the new funds. Those include:

• La-485 bridges near Allen, Louisiana, which is in Natchitoches Parish
• La-121 over the Calcasieu River in Rapides Parish
• La-1183 over Turner Canal in Avoyelles Parish
• La-1226 over Bayou Chevreuille in Natchitoches Parish

“We’ve just got lots of rivers, lots of lakes and lots of bridges. And our infrastructure has not been kept up over the last several decades,” said Sen. Cassidy. “You can’t have a modern economy with trucks going this way and that if your bridges are out of business. It also means that business is more likely to locate there, that jobs return, that folks get paid more for the jobs they currently have. This is what our state needs.”

The $1 billion allocated to Louisiana is a portion of the $26.5 billion designated for the Federal Highway Administration to the New Bridge Formula Program, which looks to address bridge repair and replacement across the nation. It will also provide $825 million for tribal bridges.

RELATED: Louisiana to receive $1 billion for bridge repair and upgrades

According to data from the National Bridge Inventory, more than 43,000 bridges are in poor condition across the United States. In total, the infrastructure law includes $550 billion in new infrastructure investments.

Click here to report a typo. Please provide the title of the article in your email.

Copyright 2022 KALB. All rights reserved.