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Advocates for Plaquemine Point, a peninsula in a bend of the Mississippi River some eight miles south of Baton Rouge, LA, which contains a nationally significant old growth forest, are calling for an Environmental Impact Statement to be conducted to assess potential adverse effects of a proposed bridge and road project. The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LADOTD), in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), is planning a roadway and Mississippi River Bridge that would connect Louisiana Highway One (LA 1) to Louisiana Highway 30 (LA 30) via a controlled access, four-lane divided roadway. The bridge would span the Mississippi River, with travel lanes twelve feet wide and outside shoulders eight feet wide. On May 27, 2022, three final options (down from 32 original proposals) were announced for the Mississippi River Bridge Project, all three located in Iberville Parish, with connections on the west side of the river south of Plaquemine, and on the east side of the river in St. Gabriel. Advocates opposed to the development estimate the proposed route through Plaquemine Point could clear cut some 150 acres of forested land.

Plaquemine Point is a half-wooded, half-cleared oblong site approximately ten miles long and one mile wide in Sunshine, LA, is a significant cultural landscape; it is part of the ancestral home of a number of indigenous tribes, including the Chitimacha, Houma, and Bayou Goula, who inhabited the land for thousands of years, and also represents more than 300 years of Western settlement. The area was colonized by the French and Spanish and provided refuge for a group of Acadian exiles in the eighteenth century – several of whose descendants still reside there. In the middle of the peninsula is the 60-acre A.E. LeBlanc Forest Natural Area, an old-growth forest including trees between 220 and 360 years old. It is the only privately-owned old-growth forest in Louisiana included in the (OGFN), a national non-profit established in 2011 focused on protecting native, mature forests, that includes more than 200 sites in 35 states.

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Of the three proposed options, Alternative E-11-IV would cut through Plaquemine Point longitudinally, destroying the habitat in the middle of the peninsula, as well as the pathway of the road that the Spanish used to divide the land grants given to Acadian settlers in 1767. The land that this road traversed has never been archaeologically studied; doing so could yield important information about the history of settlement at the fort. E-11-IV would also pass very near Fort San Gabriel on the peninsula and the site where the Acadians built their shed-like structures when they first arrived. Many of the residents of Plaquemine Point are descendants of the original Acadian settlers; E-11-IV has the potential to wipe out an important part of their cultural legacy. Further archaeological investigation is also merited at the site of an African American cemetery and church where one grave marker and several depressions in the ground indicating unmarked graves were discovered in the late 1980s. This site could reveal previously unknown information about the history of African American life and culture in the area. Nevertheless, a prepared for LADOTD by Atlas Technical Consultants surprisingly states: "Expected impacts to known resources are minor ..."

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When federal funds are involved, as is the case with this project, a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process must be undertaken, which results in an Environmental Assessment (EA) or Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), before the project can proceed. An EA is much shorter than an EIS and involves cases when an agency is unclear about whether a proposed action will have significant environmental or cultural effects. An EIS is undertaken when it is clear that a project will significantly affect natural and cultural resources; regulatory requirements for an EIS are more detailed and rigorous than for an EA, and the process can take up to two years.

At a March 31, 2025, meeting at the Louisiana State Capitol, the LADOTD announced it anticipated initiating a NEPA EA in April 2025. Moreover, the LADOTD reported that the expectation of the FHWA is that the class of action will be an EA and not an EIS.  This is a surprise because, according to the , which spells out the "three classes of actions that prescribe the level of documentation required in the NEPA process," an EIS is "normally" required for the following:  “A new controlled access freeway” and “A highway project of four or more lanes on a new location," both of which apply at Plaquemine Point Alternative E-11-IV location. 

How You Can Help

Contact Melinda Roberson, Division Administrator, Federal Highway Administration - Louisiana Division, and urge for a full Environmental Impact Statement, and cc the people named below. 

Specifically refer to : Alternative E-11-IV of State Project No.: H.013284, Federal Aid No.: H013284, Project Name: MRB South GBR: LA 1 to LA 30

Melinda Roberson
Division Administrator
Federal Highway Administration - Louisiana Division
5304 Flanders Drive, Suite A 
Baton Rouge, LA 70808
E: melinda.roberson@dot.gov

James Gavin
Program and Policy Development Leader
Office of Project Development and Environmental Review
Federal Highway Administration
E: james.gavin@dot.gov

Emily Biondi, Director
Office of Project Development and Environmental Review 
Federal Highway Administration
E: emily.biondi@dot.gov 

April Marchese, Director
Infrastructure Permitting Improvement Center United States 
United States Department of Transportation 
E: april.marchese@dot.gov 

Colleen Vaughn
Environmental Policy Analyst / Federal Preservation Officer
Infrastructure Permitting Improvement Center
United States Department of Transportation 
E: colleen.vaughn@dot.gov 

Raegan Ball
Acting Division Administrator 
Federal Highway Administration
5304 Flanders Drive, Suite A 
Baton Rouge, LA 70808 
E: raegan.ball@dot.gov 

Laura Phillips
Transportation Planner
Federal Highway Administration
5304 Flanders Drive, Suite A 
Baton Rouge, LA 70808 
E: laura.phillips@dot.gov 

Mary Stringfellow
Acting Deputy Division Administrator 
Federal Highway Administration 
5304 Flanders Drive, Suite A
Baton Rouge, LA 70808 
E: mary.stringfellow@dot.gov 

Larry Breland
Environmental Specialist 
Federal Highway Administration
5304 Flanders Drive, Suite A 
Baton Rouge, LA 70808 
E: larry.breland@dot.gov 

Joe Donahue
Secretary
Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development
1201 Capitol Access Road
Baton Rouge, LA, 70802
E: joe.donahue@la.gov 

Noel Ardoin
Environmental Division
Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development
1201 Capitol Access Road 
Baton Rouge, LA, 70802 
E: noel.ardoin@la.gov 

Robert Lott
Environmental Division
Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development 
1201 Capitol Access Road
Baton Rouge, LA, 70802
E: robert.lott@la.gov 

Christina Brignac
Mississippi River Bridge Project Manager 
Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development
1201 Capitol Access Road
Baton Rouge, LA, 70802
E: Christina.brignac@la.gov  

Governor Jeff Landry
Office of the Governor, Louisiana
PO Box 94004
Baton Rouge, LA 70804
E(an online form):  

Iberville Parish President Chris Daigle
Office of Parish President, Iberville
P.O. Box 389
Plaquemine, LA 70765
E(an online form):