Tagged: tolls

An East Baton Rouge Parish judge has ordered a recount of the vote that extended tolls on the Crescent City Connection bridge for 20 years.

The vote passed by a margin of 16 votes out of 308,000 cast on Nov. 6 in Orleans, Jefferson and Plaquemines parishes.

State Representative Pat Connick tells WWL-AM that officials won't recount every vote — just the absentee votes in Orleans Parish.

He opposed renewing the tolls, which bring in more than $20 million a year.

An opponent of tolls on the Mississippi River bridge into New Orleans has sued for a recount of the vote extending the tolls for 20 years.

The Times-Picayune reports that Attorney G. Patrick Hand III of Gretna filed the suit Tuesday in state court in East Baton Rouge Parish for Michael Teachworth, director of Stop the Tolls.

Teachworth says in a news release that the suit alleges that Orleans Parish's handling, timing and transmittal of early voting and mail-in ballots was highly suspect.

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development resumed toll operations on the La. 1 Expressway in Leeville this morning at 10 a.m.

DOTD is conducting manual toll collections, and automated tolls will be collected by Geaux Pass toll tags. The in-lane cash and charge machine was severely damaged when a large truck struck it last month, but DOTD expects to have a replacement installed sometime this fall.

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development has suspended toll collections at LA 1 in Leeville and the Crescent City Connection (CCC) US 90B in New Orleans to facilitate evacuation, emergency and protective services, the department said in a press release Sunday.

The toll suspension is in response to the declared state of emergency caused by Tropical Storm Isaac, the agency said. DOTD will notify the traveling public when tolls resume.

The chief financial officer of the Department of Transportation and Development says a troubled toll bridge in coastal south Louisiana has increased its collections by adding a payment lane on site.

But DOTD Undersecretary Michael Bridges acknowledged the change last month also has encountered problems, including equipment failure, long lines and driver confusion.

The comments came Wednesday at a state transportation panel hearing about the bridge on La. Highway 1 in Leeville, which is just west of Grand Isle.