Iberville

Commuters can get info on either side of the Mississippi River.

The Iberville Traffic Resource App offers real time, up to date traffic information for commuters moving through the Parish to and from either side of the Mississippi River. Features include live Twitter updates regarding service from the Plaquemine Ferry; Live camera feeds of the St Gabriel and Plaquemine Ferries, LA-1 and the I-10 Mississippi River Bridge; Maps with live traffic info surrounding the Plaquemine Ferry and the I-10 Mississippi River Bridge.

The app was developed as a resource both to aid travelers in deciding what course to take as well as to demonstrate the great need for a bridge crossing the Mississippi River in Iberville Parish. LA 1 is the only arterial highway which runs north-south along the eastern edge of the west bank in Iberville and West Baton Rouge Parishes. Due to its proximity to the Mississippi River and the State’s capitol city, Baton Rouge, these parishes are desirable for industrial, agricultural and residential site locations. LA 1 provides direct access to I-10, which is the only Interstate Highway in either parish. This access, provided by an interchange located on the west approach to the I-10 Horace Wilkinson Bridge, is critical to mobility of goods and people to and from the west side of the Mississippi River.

At such a critical juncture of the two highways, it is clear that traffic volumes exceed capacity for the existing interchange and are much worse during peak hours. Better mobility would alleviate this problem. However, the Mississippi River, while providing the impetus for growth in the region, is a formidable barrier to increased mobility. Downstream from the I-10 Bridge, the next crossing is a ferry located in Plaquemine about 12 miles south.

Depending on the time of day, weather conditions and origin/destination, the ferry may provide a viable, though very limited, option to accessing the I-10 Bridge. However, connectivity via this mode of travel is hardly efficient for goods and services which are in need of traversing the river.

A new bridge crossing the Mississippi River in Iberville Parish out performs all other studied bridge locations - both tolled and un-tolled in regional congestion reduction and efficiency with a projected Regional Congestion Reduction of 1,453,398 hours.