Is this another one of those "bridges to no where" sponsored by Federal tax dollars?
No it goes somewhere. It's basically a bypass of Baton Rouge to reduce I-10 traffic - which in the grand scheme of the interstate system necks down to exactly 1 lane coming off the I-10 Miss. River bridge in Baton Rouge - the only place from CA to FL where it goes to 1 lane. Ferries down here shut down a lot, fog, high water flooding etc....
Basically it's an area where a lot of people live on the west bank of the river and work on the east bank in the chemical plants, refineries, and the nuclear plant that's right near the bridge. If the ferry was out (as often up to 2-4 weeks) it was up to a 2 hour detour one way for work.
One of the stipulations when they built the nuke plant was that they had to have an exit across the river...it only took 30 years I guess.
This is the only thing the release says on money "The bridge is part of a Louisiana transportation program funded by gasoline and motor fuels taxes."
The last bridge LA built across the river - the Sunshine bridge was paid via a toll going one way. When the bridge was paid off the toll was removed eventually. Don't see that happen a lot either I'm guessing.
