A New Bridge Over The Vermilion?

As the holiday season grinds traffic around Lafayette to halt, Lafayette officials have begun the early stages of constructing a new bridge across the Vermilion river. City-Parish President Joey Durel joined ‘Nathan and Bernie in the Morning‘ for his weekly ‘Lafayette Live‘ segment to discuss the new bridge and what it would mean for Lafayette traffic.

Until people are ready for some significant infrastructure changes I think this model is perfect

"That’s a fairly longterm discussion that I hope future administrations can keep going," said Durel. "Hopefully we can get it soon, and when I say soon, I mean in the next 10 years."

The bridge, which is still in the very early stages of development, is expected to connect Verot School to I-10, bypassing Ambassador Caffery. Though, Durel admits they are still not sure exactly where the bridge will be.

"We're hiring an engineering firm to do the line study; this will start more clearly defining where the right place for the bridge will be," said Durel.

When asked how the bridge could be paid for, Durel looked to the recently passed airport tax as a model for future infrastructure projects.

"We can’t pass a tax that’s forever that will be for infrastructure," said Durel. "Until people are ready for some significant infrastructure changes I think this model is perfect."

To listen to the full audio from the interview, click the play button below: