Of all the places in the United States I have had the privilege of traveling, Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin is one of the most interesting. The largest swamp in the United States is home to a very robust ecosystem, and a very strong-willed people who love to live on the water. It is also home to the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, the third-longest bridge in the U.S. behind the Manchac Swamp Bridge and the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway.
The history behind the 18-mile bridge
The Atchafalaya Basin Bridge is a pair of parallel bridges between Baton Rouge and Lafayette that carries Interstate 10 over the Atchafalaya Basin. It has a total length of 96,095 feet (18 miles), which makes it the second-longest on the Interstate Highway System, and the 14th-longest in the world by total length.
The bridge, which opened in 1973, has some rules to follow. Trucks are limited to 55 miles per hour and are to use the right lane only. But due to the constraints of the bridge itself, law enforcement is somewhat limited. There are few turnarounds on the bridge where speed detection radar can be used and the existing cameras are primarily for monitoring breakdowns and accidents.
SB435 to bring some signage and “ticket cameras”
That may change soon as SB435, a Louisiana Senate bill to officially designate the Atchafalaya Bridge, also known as the Louisiana Airborne Memorial Bridge and the Atchafalaya Elevated Expressway, a Highway Safety Corridor. The bill calls for an increase in safety and law enforcement equipment used on the bridge.
Modern remote “ticketing” cameras would be added to the existing crash cameras. The new cameras would either be monitored by state officials or an outside contractor. The cameras will monitor the time vehicles travel between marked points and calculate the speed from that data. Speeding fines would be double current fees due to the corridor designation.
“I think the best way we can address that … is by law. We will install six signs that say trucks are restricted to the right lane, and so I think that will help tremendously. I think everybody is going to look at this enforcement corridor as one to treat more seriously and drive responsibly, so I think it will address the trucks that are in the left lane.”
Shawn Wilson, director of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development during testimony before the Louisiana State Senate
Additional signs noting the bridge as a highway safety corridor and the truck-only lane would be installed as well. Trucks already use the right lane across the bridge with penalties if caught not obeying the rule. Six new “Trucks Right Lane Only” and eight speed limit signs would be posted along both sides of the bridge.
The installation of the ticketing cameras is always a hot topic when they come to town. The legality of an outside contractor enforcing violations is a matter hotly contested in courts. Usually, local authorities do not use outside contractors for this function, but the state can pass laws allowing their use. States even can have private companies issue the violations, as long as a state official oversees the program
