As state transportation officials inch further along with plans to replace the structurally deficient I-10 bridge over the Calcasieu River in Lake Charles, La., President Joe Biden during his May 6 visit to Louisiana highlighted the bridge as an example of a project his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan could help fund.
Biden’s plan proposes $115 billion above existing surface transportation programs to upgrade bridges, highways and roads in Louisiana. One of the plan’s objectives is to fix 10 of the nation’s most “economically significant bridges” that require replacement, and the plan would have states compete for grant funding. “This bridge could be one of them,” Biden said, speaking with the bridge as a visual backdrop.