Causeway toll to hike in price

COVINGTON – Drivers crossing the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway will soon be paying more than ever to do so.
The Jefferson Parish Council unanimously authorized the agency in charge of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway to pursue state approval for a bond issue that would pay for more than $100 million in safety improvements to the bridge last Wednesday.
A toll increase, which will begin in May, was approved by the Causeway Commission in August of last year, but still needed both the Jefferson Parish and St. Tammany Parish councils to pass the right to seek state bonds. The increase will pay for the new safety features, which are meant to make sure vehicles don’t fall off the bridge during accidents.
The St. Tammany Parish Council approved the bond request two months ago, meaning the only hurdle remaining for the Causeway Commission to move forward was the vote from the Jefferson Parish Council.
The Concerned Citizens of St. Tammany Parish, a parish watchdog group that fought approval of the toll increase, said the bridge is already safe enough citing the Causeway Commission’s own numbers, which show the bridge is 2.1 times safer than Interstates 10 and 12.
The Causeway Commission says 16 cars have gone into the water in the last two decades. Eight of those happened in the last three years, prompting the call for improvements.
The increase will raise tolls from $3 to $5 for those paying cash and from $2 to $3 for toll-tag users.
Officials have asked for money to raise the guardrails on both spans as well as to install shoulders at intervals that would allow drivers to move their cars out of the travel lanes if necessary. The shoulders would supplement the handful of crossovers that now offer the only places where drivers can pull out of travel lanes.
Opponents argue that the Causeway’s safety record is generally good, given that about 42,000 vehicles cross it each weekday. They say it makes little sense to spend so much money on preventing crashes that are so rare.