With the fair amount of traffic that the Plaquemine Ferry across the Mississippi River in Louisiana between Plaquemine and Sunshine carries as part of State Highway 75, a bridge should be built to replace the ferry and improve traffic flow, along with emergency vehicle access along the river. Such a design should be either a cable stayed bridge like the John James Audubon Bridge further upriver in Louisiana or an arch bridge like the Interstate 74 Bridge Replacement Span. Both of these bridge types would be economical for a bridge on the Mississippi between Plaquemine and Sunshine. Such a bridge should have four 12 foot wide lanes of traffic with two lanes in each directions and modern breakdown shoulders on either side. There could also be a pedestrian path on one side and a bicycle path on the other side. The John James Audubon Bridge was a similar project further upriver in Louisiana to replace a ferry carrying traffic on Highway 10.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaquemine_Ferry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jame ... ippi_River)
https://www.modjeski.com/projects/arch/ ... h-bridges/

In fact I'm surprised the ferry still exists.

N1120A wrote:

Aesma wrote:

In fact I'm surprised the ferry still exists.

Without a bridge, that is a very long stretch without a bridge. It also disconnects a bunch of populated communities that are physically close.

Therefore, a bridge to replace this ferry might actually be a good idea.

ArchGuy1 wrote:

N1120A wrote:

Aesma wrote:

In fact I'm surprised the ferry still exists.

Without a bridge, that is a very long stretch without a bridge. It also disconnects a bunch of populated communities that are physically close.

Therefore, a bridge to replace this ferry might actually be a good idea.

Is there good opportunity for development on the Plaquemaine side of the river? Baton Rouge is 20 mins drive, the Sunshine Bridge in the other direction 30 mins away and that whole stretch of the river is largely petrochemical plants

Enough to justify the $billion to build a bridge to save 20-30 mins travel? There'd need to be a massive amount of new development to justify the costs of a large span bridge.

N1120A wrote:

It also disconnects a bunch of populated communities that are physically close.

It doesn't disconnect anything, they were never connected.

I don't get the point of spending a billion dollars of US taxpayers money to connect two small towns that have never been connected before while other heavily used bridges in other parts of the country need repair / replacing. Louisiana is a welfare state that has already sucked up way more than it's share.

N1120A wrote:

Vintage wrote:

N1120A wrote:

It also disconnects a bunch of populated communities that are physically close.

It doesn't disconnect anything, they were never connected.

I don't get the point of spending a billion dollars of US taxpayers money to connect two small towns that have never been connected before while other heavily used bridges in other parts of the country need repair / replacing. Louisiana is a welfare state that has already sucked up way more than it's share.

Yeah, cause who needs infrastructure? Again, this makes sense for commerce.

Then maybe a toll bridge is a good idea, as the current industry that needs to cross the river doesn't justify it.

N1120A wrote:

Vintage wrote:

N1120A wrote:

It also disconnects a bunch of populated communities that are physically close.

It doesn't disconnect anything, they were never connected.

I don't get the point of spending a billion dollars of US taxpayers money to connect two small towns that have never been connected before while other heavily used bridges in other parts of the country need repair / replacing. Louisiana is a welfare state that has already sucked up way more than it's share.

Yeah, cause who needs infrastructure? Again, this makes sense for commerce.

Doesn't a ferry need more employees? Those to inspect the ferry, those to repair the ferry, those to be on board and Coast Guard certified, those to load at either end. And these are every day jobs.

A bridge? Like 50 people once a year.

seb146 wrote:

Doesn't a ferry need more employees? Those to inspect the ferry, those to repair the ferry, those to be on board and Coast Guard certified, those to load at either end. And these are every day jobs.

A bridge? Like 50 people once a year.

Inspections are done by the USCG. Repairs are done by contracted shipyards. Big bridges have constant maintenance. The Mackinac and Golden Gate bridges are under constant upkeep. They start sandblasting and painting at one end and when they get to the other, they start again at the beginning.

Is this a realistic proposal being discussed among lobbyists in Baton Rouge? I grew up in Metairie and have never heard of a plan to build a bridge in Plaquemine. As mentioned upthread, the Sunshine Bridge and the I-10 bridge in BR are not that far away. BR and Gonzales have grown a lot, but there’s still not much on the Westbank in that neck of the woods outside of the refineries and Chemical plants. Heck, wasn’t that long ago the state connected the west end of the Gramercy Bridge to LA3127–used to just loop back to LA18 along the river rather than cut through the swamp. Plus the Sunshine Bridge already ties Baton Rouge and its environs to Morgan City, which outside of tying Plaquemine itself to Baton Rouge’s southern suburbs would be the primary purpose of such a link. Seems to me that after the completion of the Audubon Bridge and the (sorely-needed) expansion of the Huey P, the next logical target would be another span in the immediate Baton Rouge area (or an expansion/replacement of the US-190 bridge).