Louisiana will set up a 10-member task force and a five-member advisory council to study a proposal to remove the tolls from two bridges over the Mississippi River in downtown New Orleans.
The panels will study all aspects of the Crescent City Connection division, a unit of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development that operates the two four-lane bridges.
A report in February by the Bureau of Governmental Research recommended the tolls on the Crescent City Connection not be extended past the end of 2012, which is the final maturity on the bonds issued to build the bridges.
The report said almost a third of the toll revenues generated by the spans is used to subsidize the operations of three ferry services across the river
Gov. Bobby Jindal will appoint the members from nominees submitted by the Regional Planning Commission, public safety agencies, civic and business organizations, and local port operators.
The study effort was authorized by Senate Concurrent Resolution 47, sponsored by Sen. David Heitmeier, D-Algiers.
The resolution directs the task force to review the division’s audits and financial reports, look at new revenue sources, and consider how to best use the available revenues.
The panels are expected to be in place by July 15.
The resolution requires the recommendations to be presented by Feb. 1, 2012, to legislative committees on transportation, highways and public works, and to the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget.
The Crescent City Connection is the only toll bridge out of eight spans across the Mississippi River in Louisiana.
The first of the two cantilevered spans was built with $65 million of revenue bonds issued in 1954 by the Mississippi River Bridge Authority. The agency, also known as the bridge district, was later incorporated into the state highway department.
The authority issued $39.5 million of revenue bonds in 1992 to build new approaches to the bridges and $19.2 million of bonds in 2002 to refinance the outstanding 1992 debt.
