Today President Joe Biden announced the Bipartisan infrastructure is under way. Louisiana will receive one-billion dollars to reconstruct roads and bridges through the state.
Department of transportation secretary Dr. Shawn Wilson says with President Biden’s announcement, his department is ready to identify which bridges need to be tackled first.
"So we're going to be identifying those bridges that are in poor conditions and spend close to 200 million dollars a year on those bridges. Some of those bridges are going to be parish owned bridges, some of them are going to be state owned bridges and we're going to identify them and build them into our highway priority program."
Although money coming from the Bipartisan Bill will go to the reconstruction of acadiana, congressman Clay Higgins believes this Bill isn’t the best option for us.
"It's a terrible bill because it's incredibly irresponsible from a physical perspective. It's a four trillion dollar bill and we just don't have that
Dotd's plan is not only reconstruct bridges, Dr. Wilson says the traffic congestion and the I 49 corridor will be their top priority.
"...and we should take action and do something about it, so we have a plan to do that. Part of it is with I 49 and part of it is creating a boulevard for locals living in and around the area to move safely and affect and it's a part of our statewide transportation plan."
Construction has already begun for a number of projects. Dr. Wilson says now that we’ve secured federal funding, more reconstruction will begin soon.
