2011 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 47 — Revenue and taxation
RS 47:820.5 — Expiration of tolls

§820.5. Expiration of tolls

A. Repealed by Acts 2003, No. 110, §2.

B. Tolls on the Greater New Orleans Mississippi River Bridges shall be collected at the rates in effect on January 1, 1994, by the Crescent City Connection Division within the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, formerly "The Mississippi River Bridge Authority", through September 30, 1994. From October 1, 1994, through December 31, 2012, the tolls shall be collected at the rate of twenty cents per axle for toll tag users and fifty cents per axle for cash users. The Crescent City Connection Division may sell transferrable Automatic Vehicular Identification tags or nontransferrable Automatic Vehicular Identification tags to toll patrons at a cost that shall equal and shall not exceed the department's cost to purchase the tags for either device. The proceeds from such tolls collected shall be subject to the provisions and used as follows:

(1) The tolls to be collected, as herein provided, shall continue to be considered as self-generated revenues and are to be deposited in accordance with the 1954 Bond Indenture for the financing by the Mississippi River Bridge Authority of the Greater New Orleans Mississippi River Bridge No. 1 and all supplements thereto and the Supplemental Bond Indenture of April 1, 1992, and in furtherance of the provisions of Act 402 of 1976 as amended, and in accordance with law vesting the secretary of the Department of Transportation and Development of the state of Louisiana with his legally directed executive and administrative control over the Mississippi River Bridge Authority, now called the Crescent City Connection Division of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, pursuant to the Executive Reorganization Act and especially the provisions of Act 315 of 1989, with such funds to be deposited and expended in accordance with the foregoing in the trustee accounts as provided in such bond indentures as amended, and all pursuant to the provisions of the constitution and laws of Louisiana relative to annual appropriations and capital outlays for the funding of the operations and maintenance of the bridges and ferries under the authority of the Crescent City Connection Division within the Department of Transportation and Development. For Fiscal Years 1994-1995 through 1996-1997, the amount appropriated for operation and maintenance of the bridges and ferries under the authority of the Crescent City Connection Division shall not exceed nine million five hundred thousand dollars annually from self-generated toll revenues. Commencing in Fiscal Year 1997-1998, the amount appropriated in each fiscal year from all means of financing can exceed the prior fiscal year's appropriation by no more than three percent. However, any appropriation for any extraordinary expenses of the Crescent City Connection Division shall require the approval of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget. For Fiscal Year 1997-1998 through Fiscal Year 2011-2012 and for the first half of Fiscal Year 2012-2013, the money from the self-generated tolls shall be used for operation and maintenance of the bridges and ferries under the authority of the Crescent City Connection Division, and to complete the bridge projects as set forth in Paragraph (2) of this Subsection, and to maximize, for the projects set forth in Paragraph (2), the state's ability to obtain federal matching funds for transportation purposes pursuant to the project by appropriation or grant from the United States Department of Transportation or its successor including but not limited to obtaining federal matching funds with the use of toll-generated monies, authorized by the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, Public Law 102-240, or its successor, and amendments thereto, upon appropriate authorization by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and the Louisiana Legislature, in accordance with laws relative to such joint projects financed with state and federal funds, and any other appropriate funds that may be available. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, no funds appropriated to the division for Fiscal Year 1998-1999 or thereafter shall be expended for engineering services performed after June 30, 1999, which are related to examinations and inspections, maintenance, or repair of, or construction of special projects related to, bridges and ferry facilities under the authority of the division, and their approaches and appurtenances, if such services are provided under a contract which has not been subject to competitive selection or bid in the manner provided by law for any contracts for engineering services.

(2)(a) For funding the completion of the bridge(s) project as defined in Act 402 of 1976, as amended, and in accordance with the United States permit issued therefor. This shall include:

(i) Funding of the required land use plan of the bridge(s) rights-of-way.

(ii) Completion of the bridge(s) project and its approaches.

(iii) Lighting of the eastbank and westbank approaches to the bridge(s) project including the westbank expressway approach through ground level and the planning and construction of turn lanes, turn-arounds, and intersections, lighting, maintenance, grass cutting, and landscaping of the westbank expressway and connecting arteries.

(iv) The legally and structurally required control devices regulating traffic on the exclusive transit lanes constructed in accordance with federal laws and guidelines.

(v) The General DeGaulle Drive Parkway, Terry Parkway, and the Shirley Drive Parkway landscaping and beautification project.

(vi) Extension of Peters Road south to an intersection with Louisiana Highway 23.

(vii) Four-laning of Lapalco Boulevard from Victory Drive to Highway 90.

(viii) Improvements on Barataria Boulevard and Terry Parkway.

(ix) The upgrading of the General DeGaulle Drive/Burmaster Avenue approach to the bridge(s) by extending LA Highway 18 from Huey P. Long Avenue in central Gretna along Fourth and/or Fifth Streets eastward to Burmaster Avenue.

(x) The upgrading of Peters Road and its accompanying rail corridor; an additional toll tag lane for cars entering from the Algiers area.

(xi) A down ramp exit to Mardi Gras Boulevard to service the Algiers area.

(xii) Providing additional ingress and egress ramps along the elevated expressway to facilitate access to Destrehan Avenue.

(xiii) The repainting of the Crescent City Connection.

(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, after the maintenance and operation expenses of the bridges and ferries under the authority of the Crescent City Connection Division have been paid, the Department of Transportation and Development shall dedicate the remaining toll proceeds to complete the bridge projects enumerated in this Paragraph and shall prioritize such projects giving preference to projects which either directly relate to the main structure of the bridge or work to expedite the flow of traffic entering and exiting the bridge; however, the department shall complete all of the following five projects prior to funding and prioritizing any other bridge projects enumerated in this Paragraph:

(i) Opening transit lanes for "HOV2" or "High Occupancy Vehicle 2" traffic on the Greater New Orleans Mississippi River Bridges.

(ii) Providing an additional toll tag lane for cars entering from the Algiers area.

(iii) Installing a video or photo monitoring system as defined in R.S. 47:820.5.1(C)(3).

(iv) Repainting the upriver span of the Crescent City Connection bridge.

(3) The provisions of Act 402 of 1976, and all amendments thereto, are hereby legally recognized and the provisions thereof continued in full force and effect, including but not limited to the provisions therein for the separate financing of the bridge(s) project hereby over the Mississippi River at New Orleans. It is further provided that the self-generated toll revenue from the bridge(s) project shall not be used for any other project defined in or part of the Transportation Infrastructure for Model Development Account set forth in R.S. 47:820.2, nor shall any toll revenues be a part of the Transportation Trust Fund.

(4) Repealed by Acts 1998, No. 59, §2, eff. June 24, 1998.

(5) No toll revenue derived as authorized by this Subsection shall be used to fund any other projects in the state of Louisiana, particularly those contained in Title 47, Part IV, Section 820.1 through 820.5, the Transportation Infrastructure Model for Economic Development Account. Such toll revenues shall be used solely as provided in this Subsection and pursuant to the provisions of Act 402 of 1976 as amended, as to financing and construction of the bridge(s) project and laws related thereto and the provisions of the bond indentures issued under the authority of said Act in connection with said project, which provisions are hereby retained.

C. Effective October 1, 1994, the tolls on ferries operated by the state shall not exceed fifty cents per vehicle for discounted toll script and one dollar per vehicle for cash.

Acts 1989, 1st. Ex. Sess., No. 16, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1990; Acts 1994, No. 36, §1, eff. June 7, 1994; Acts 1997, No. 1414, §1; Acts 1998, No. 59, §§1, 2, eff. June 24, 1998; Acts 2002, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 103, §1; Acts 2003, No. 110, §2; Acts 2006, No. 378, §1, eff. June 15, 2006.