Take some extra money to cross Lake Ponchartrain

Crossing the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway could soon get more costly.

The Greater New Orleans Expressway Commission is scheduled to consider a proposal to raise the toll fee by $1 to finance as much as $100 million in bonds for safety improvements.

It now costs $3 to cross the Causeway from the north shore to the south shore, or $2 with a toll tag. Traveling the northbound span is free.

The bridge opened in 1956. Since then, tolls have increased only once, in the mid-1990s.

General Manager Carlton Dufrechou tells The New Orleans Advocate the bridge is in desperate need of areas where vehicles can pull over, as well as improved safety rails along the southbound span.

Dufrechou says the proposed increase will be considered at the commission's August meeting.