Officials seeking support for new Mississippi River bridge proposal

BATON ROUGE - A new tv commercial will hit the airwaves this weekend

advertising the new Mississippi River Bridge project. For now, the commercial will run one day: Saturday, after the election.

"If it's not the top mega project in the state, the top two or three," State Senator Rick Ward said.

Ward is the driving force behind the estimated $1 billon Capital Bridge Project.

"It's been a long and continuous election cycle, any goal is to simply try to refocus everybody on we do have some things we agree on. And the new bridge is one that's very significant for our region," Ward said.

A project manager is expected to be named next month to oversee the construction. Then an environmental study will be conducted.

A site has not been selected, but five locations have been proposed.

Voters in five parishes will first have to approve the project before construction can start, and that will mean approving more taxes to pay for it.

No date has been set for when residents will vote on the bridge proposal.