Many of its pipes for water purification are crumbling. New Orleans is a major port city on the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast, sitting in bowl-shaped terrain that frequently floods.Ībout half of the century-old plant’s turbines have failed in the past year. Later in the afternoon, the president visited the Carrollton Water Plant in New Orleans, which provides drinking water to the country’s 50th-largest city. President Joe Biden tours a pumping room at the Sewerage & Water Board's Carrollton water plant, May 6, 2021, in New Orleans, as New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell listens at right. Operating the bridge beyond its anticipated 50-year life span is “a recipe for disaster,” Biden said. It is considered by structural engineers to be one of the most dangerous bridges in the United States. The bridge opened to vehicular traffic in 1952 and currently carries 80,000 cars and trucks daily. The attempt to sell his package beyond his Democratic base is why Biden was pictured on Thursday at the Calcasieu River Bridge on Interstate 10 in Lake Charles. The president contends such a tax hike would fund $115 billion for roads and bridges, and hundreds of billions of dollars more to modernize the electrical grid, provide better-quality drinking water, rebuild homes and accelerate the manufacturing of electric vehicles. Republican lawmakers oppose Biden’s plan to fund projects with higher corporate taxes. John Kennedy, R-La., New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and Louisiana Rep.-elect Troy Carter at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in Kenner, La., May 6, 2021.ĭespite the loss in Louisiana, Biden “is the president for everyone,” Karine Jean-Pierre, White House deputy press secretary, told reporters on Air Force One during Thursday’s flight to the state. “Raising taxes that will force middle-class jobs overseas is not infrastructure.”įormer President Donald Trump beat Biden in the state by nearly 20% in the 2020 presidential election. Republicans insist on a narrower approach to infrastructure - repairing roads and bridges, modernizing transit and expanding broadband internet access, rather than spending money on renewable energy and care for the elderly.īiden’s American Jobs Plan is a “budget-busting tax hike spending boondoggle masquerading as an infrastructure bill,” said Republican Steve Scalise, who represents portions of Louisiana in the House. His visit, in part, was a challenge to Louisiana’s congressional delegation, which at the moment is exclusively Republican - until Representative-elect Troy Carter takes his House seat May 11 to represent the majority Black 2nd District. President, any members of Congress out there who might be listening - Lake Charles needs help right now, and we're asking for it,” Mayor Nic Hunter said.īiden proposes spending $2.3 trillion on infrastructure and jobs across the country. And it’s a perfect example how we've neglected as a nation to invest in the future of our economy and the future of our people,” said Biden in Lake Charles, Louisiana, after he was introduced by the city’s Republican mayor. “We're standing here in the shadow of the I-10 bridge, which I've gone over several times myself in the past. President Joe Biden did the opposite on Thursday - holding photo opportunities with a poorly maintained bridge as the backdrop and then touring a decrepit water treatment plant, with cameras in tow. The bridge's structural rating is 96%, even after surviving two major hurricanes.Politicians usually prefer to pose and smile in front of public works projects of pride. The bridge survived the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the most intense tropical cyclone ever observed in the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Rita. It is one of the tallest structures in southwest Louisiana. It is named after Israel LaFleur, who spearheaded the project to build it. The bridge was built in 1962 as part of Interstate 210 (Lake Charles Loop a highway expansion that travels over the Calcasieu River, south of Lake Charles, and back up to Interstate 10). The Israel LaFleur Bridge is a concrete pillar vehicular bridge located in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
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