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A.  The legislature finds that the planned construction of a bridge across the Mississippi River in the vicinity of the town of St. Francisville and the city of New Roads has highlighted the need for improved access highways that would connect such bridge with Interstate 49 to the northwest and with Interstate 55 and Interstate 59 to the east in order to improve prospects for economic development and tourism in the parishes that would be served by such highways.  

B.  The legislature also finds that most of the people living in the district are disadvantaged from an economic development standpoint because they are not served by the kind of highways that economic development prospects require.  As a result of this lack of an adequate transportation system, unemployment is high throughout most of the district, and a large percentage of young people who grow up in the district move outside the district in order to find suitable employment.  

C.  The legislature further finds that, in addition, travel by automobile or truck between the eastern portion of the district and the western portion of the district is difficult and unnecessarily time-consuming because the most direct route is by means of two-lane highways that permit a relatively slow average rate of speed.  

D.  Such conditions are detrimental to the public interest and require governmental action to correct them.  Accordingly, it is the public policy of this state in the interest of public health, safety, convenience, and welfare, to promote the construction of a modern four-lane highway connecting the eastern portion of the district with the western portion of the district, to improve employment opportunities in the district by making the district more attractive to economic development prospects and by increasing tourism in the district.  

E.  The construction of such a highway would further serve the public interest by relieving some of the traffic congestion in the Baton Rouge area and by assisting with any evacuation that might become necessary in connection with the nuclear plant in the parish of West Feliciana.  

Acts 1992, No. 288, §1.