By JAMES MINTON
Advocate Baker - Zachary bureau
Published: May 18, 2011

Just as the John James Audubon Bridge over the Mississippi River was about to open, the river rose up and reminded everyone why a bridge between Pointe Coupee and West Feliciana parishes is a good idea.

A few days after the bridge opened, the rising river cut off access from the high ground of St. Francisville and the east-bank ferry landing.

This time, however, no one missed a quick trip across the river because of the high water. The bridge was open for traffic. And, there’ll be no more mechanical problems with the boat to surprise motorists who are in a hurry to cross.

Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development officials persuaded the contractor on the $409 million project, Audubon Bridge Constructors, to move up the opening date when it became apparent that the river probably was going to hit a record high for the area.

Some work remained to be done, but the contractor and DOTD agreed that it could be handled without having to shut down the bridge.

A respectable crowd gathered on the Pointe Coupee side for the obligatory opening ceremony on the morning of May 5, and a buzz of excitement rippled through the crowd while a motorcade of waiting drivers stretched into the distance.

Speaking to the crowd, state Sen. Rob Marionneaux Jr., D-Livonia, gave credit to a predecessor, former state Sen. J.E. Jumonville, D-Ventress, for pushing to have the bridge included in the Transportation Infrastructure Model for Economic Development gasoline tax proposal that voters approved in 1989.

Former Gov. Buddy Roemer, giving the keynote speech to a leadership class in Zachary a few months ago, told the story of how the bridge project became part of the TIMED program.

Roemer said he needed Jumonville’s vote to get the required Senate majority to put the program on the ballot, and he knew Jumonville would want something for his district.

“What do you want, J.E.?” Roemer said he asked the senator, who replied that the area needed a bridge.

The former governor said he included $50 million in the project package for a bridge, and the rest is history, although $50 million wouldn’t get the bridge out of the water 22 years later.

At 1,583 feet, the bridge is the longest cable-stayed bridge in the Western Hemisphere, and many people have commented on its elegant style.

The name has generated some controversy, however, and a bill pending in the state Legislature would change it to honor Pointe Coupee’s Lt. Gen. John Lejeune and West Feliciana’s Gen. Robert Barrow. Both served as commandants of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Regardless of what the Legislature does, folks in the Baton Rouge area might adopt the same practice employed in referring to the Horace Wilkinson and Huey P. Long bridges, now called the “new and old bridges” in normal conversation.

Maybe the “old bridge” will become the “older bridge,” the “new bridge” will be the “old bridge” and the Audubon/Lejeune-Barrow bridge will be the “new bridge.”

Or maybe the Baton Rouge bridges will keep their conversational titles and the span between West Feliciana and Pointe Coupee parishes will be the “newer bridge.”

Regardless of the name, the ride will be just as smooth.

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