Transportation group pressing candidates to support gas tax
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — With Louisiana's highway and bridge needs topping $12 billion, a transportation advocacy group said Monday that the state's next governor should back an increase in the gasoline tax to shrink the backlog, fill potholes and ease traffic.
The Louisiana Good Roads and Transportation Association recommended at least a 10-cent hike to the state's 20-cent-per-gallon gas tax, with the $250 million to $280 million it is expected to raise annually earmarked to transportation projects.
"What it's going to take is political leadership," Ken Perret, association president and a retired assistant state transportation secretary, told the Press Club of Baton Rouge.