Expressway authority to begin work soon by Scott Rogers - posted Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 @ 11:08 pm  E-mail Story |  Print Story  State Rep. Mike Walsworth hopes to have the members for the newly created Ouachita Expressway Authority appointed and ready to meet by Aug. 14. He said Tuesday that the various agencies that will appoint the 15-member authority board have all been contacted about the pending appointments. "I think everybody will be ready to meet on that date," said Walsworth, who authored legislation in the recent Regular Session to create the authority. The first meeting of the Ouachita Expressway Authority, which was created to pursue the construction of a fourth bridge over the Ouachita River, will be an organizational one. Members will elect officers and decide how often the authority board will meet. Walsworth hopes the members will agree to meet monthly on a regular basis. Congressman Rodney Alexander is expected to attend the first meeting. He is expected to offer a review of which federal funds the authority can seek to help pay for a fourth bridge. "Right off the bat, we're going after money," Walsworth said. "We'll talk about where we're headed and how we're going to get there." Walsworth expects the authority will pattern itself after the Greater Ouachita Port Commission. "I hope we have that same kind of success," he said, referring to the port's accomplishments in acquiring funds to make that project a reality. Walsworth has constantly said the fourth river bridge is one of the most important infrastructure improvements for Ouachita Parish. "The fourth bridge is coming," he bellowed before a packed crowd during a recent legislative appreciative luncheon. The Ouachita Expressway Authority would have "full corporate powers to promote, plan, finance, develop, construct, control, regulate, operate and maintain any limited access tollway or transit way to be constructed within its jurisdiction." Members of the Ouachita Expressway Authority would be appointed by the Ouachita Parish Police Jury, Monroe Chamber of Commerce, West Monroe/West Ouachita Chamber of Commerce, president of the University of Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, Ouachita Council of Governments, the House District 16 representative, the state senator from District 33 and the 5th District congressman. The Police Jury and DOTD each would be allowed to appoint two members to the authority. The others can appoint one member each. The board of commissioners would have the power to obtain state and federal funding, as well as sell revenue bonds to pay for the cost of the bridge's engineering and construction work. The project could cost more than $200 million and take several years to complete. Congress already has appropriated $1.25 million for the bridge project that will link La. 143 with U.S. Highway 165.