transportation

Tesla Motors, the luxury electric car company founded by technology mogul Elon Musk, has opened a new Supercharger station in Lake Charles.

Superchargers are what the company calls its proprietary charging stations. The company says the new location in Lake Charles will enable drivers of its Model S vehicles to replenish a half charge in 20 minutes.

That half charge will enable a Model S driver to travel about 150 miles. A fully-charged Model S has a range of about 265 miles, the company says.

Discount airline Allegiant Air will begin nonstop service to New Orleans from four destinations beginning in early February.

Officials with Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport said Tuesday that Allegiant will have nonstop flights from Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis; and Florida's Orlando-Sanford International Airport.

U.S. Sen. David Vitter says he "aggressively favors tolls" to pay part of the $3 billion needed for the completion of Interstate 49 between Lafayette and New Orleans.

Vitter made the statements Friday at a meeting of the I-49 South Coalition in Lafayette, drawing support from other attendees.

A feasibility study released recently concludes that a toll of 18 cents per mile toll could pay for 30-40 percent of the project.

After today, New Orleans drivers with handicap tags and license plates will be able to park in metered parking spaces for up to three hours without paying.

The City Council passed the new ordinance on Thursday.

Disability activists say they had been seeking to change the parking laws for many years, but never made progress until threatening to sue the city for violating the Americans With Disabilities Act, NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune reports.

The St. Charles streetcar line is one of nine new national historic landmarks announced Tuesday by the Department of the Interior.

The St. Charles Line has been in operation since 1835, making it the oldest continuously working street railway in the country.