Transportation bill to build new Mississippi River Bridges doesn’t get past Louisiana House floor.
There will be no plan to build a new bridge over the Mississippi River for atleast another year.
After passing a House committee, the new bridge bill failed to pass the full House, with 18 votes from a 2/3 majority. It was a $.10 increase to the gas tax she says would raise $300 million a year.
The tax would have raised $675 million a year, putting $100 million into the Transportation Trust Fund. But Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, who voted against the measure, says the trust fund needs fixed before the bill should be advanced.
"We are spending now about $80 million a year that's in the Transportation Trust Fund on things unrelated to highways and bridges," said Rep. Edwards.
After the new bridge bill failed to move past the House, Rep. St. Germain decided not to present another transportation bill.
"We've kicked that can down the road so long, that we're still digging it out of the pothole. Our highways and bridges have gone to hell in a handbasket," said Democratic Rep. Karen St. Germain.
