Loop Funding on Jindal’s Desk for Signature or Veto

By Dave Freneaux

HB-2 was passed by both the Senate and the House last week and it contains approximately $6 million in funding to study what remains of the Baton Rouge Loop.  The bill calls for $1 million in funding from the budget and an additional $5 million in borrowing to fund another study.  With surrounding Parishes having withdrawn their participation in the project, it appears that the proposed loop could only traverse East and West Baton Rouge Parishes.  That reduces the possible configuration of the loop to run from I-10 on the west side of Baton Rouge to the Amite River between Central and Livingston Parish.  This remaining toll road would be somewhere between 12 and 20 miles long.
 
Representative Bodi White was contacted and stated that he has a high degree of confidence that the Governor will exercise his line-item veto authority to remove the Loop funding from this bill.  Rep. White added that HB-1 and HB-76, which have already been signed, contain funding for several projects of importance to Central, including $50,000 toward the creation of an Historical Park at the site of the originall Greenwell Springs, and at least $100,000 toward project to extend Hooper Road over the Amite to Highway 16 in Livingston Parish.