BR-NO passenger train faces new headwinds

BR-NO passenger train project faces headwinds

BR-NO train: East Baton Rouge Parish Council members will soon decide whether to advance a long-hyped plan to run a passenger train from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, Robert Stewart reports. But some members say the proposed train would unfairly avoid north Baton Rouge.

Mississippi River bridge: Gov.-elect Jeff Landry supports the buildout of a new Mississippi River bridge in the Baton Rouge area, a long-stalled, highly awaited project that will cost $3 billion to construct, Meghan Friedmann reports.

Angola death row: The state Department of Corrections is using an old death row building at the State Penitentiary at Angola to house women in its custody, weeks after a judge declared the building unsafe for teens, James Finn reports. Some critics blasted the move.

Numbers to Know

The state has steered $20.5M this year toward the Baton Rouge-New Orleans passenger rail project

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It won a $20M U.S. Department of Transportation grant last year, and another $500K from that agency this year

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The project still needs another $200M to be realized

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Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, Gov. John Bel Edwards' office

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