EAST BATON ROUGE - Officials working on the South Mississippi River Bridge Project invite community members to participate in the first of several open houses that will occur this week. 

Taking place at the Bluebonnet Regional Branch Library, the open house meeting will occur from 5 - 7 p.m. this evening. It's not far from one potential location of the bridge itself, which sits near the Iberville Parish line in East Baton Rouge. 

This is just one of four meetings that will take place through Thursday, and each meeting will discuss a different potential spot for a new bridge. All of its possible locations are south of "The New Bridge" and connect LA-1 to LA-30. 

Officials are looking to identify which potential location will most effectively reduce traffic and improve quality of life. During the meeting, they will highlight details regarding each identified location. 

Community members are invited to attend the open houses as these public meetings will be the last step before further decisions are made regarding the new bridge. 

_{Monday, April 25, 2022 | 5 - 7pm} 

_{East Baton Rouge Parish} 

_{Bluebonnet Regional Branch Library} 

_{9200 Bluebonnet Blvd, Baton Rouge} 

_{Tuesday, April 26, 2022 | 5 - 7pm} 

_{Iberville Parish, East Bank}

_{St. Gabriel Community Center} 

_{11400 Gordon Simon Leblanc Dr., St. Gabriel} 

_{Wednesday, April 27, 2022 | 5 - 7pm} 

_{West Baton Rouge Parish} 

_{Addis Community Center} 

_{7250 LA-1, Addis} 

_{Thursday, April 28, 2022 | 5 - 7pm}

_{Ascension Parish, West Bank} 

_{Donaldsonville High School Gym} 

_{100 Tiger Dr., Donaldsonville}

The meetings to occur this week could be the push officials are looking for to get additional state funding. Last week, the state budget was voted to go into two different funds: preservation and development of mega projects. However, Governor John Bel Edwards says they need funding specifically for new bridge development:

"We're not doing anything different than what we've seen in other major capacity projects around the state that cost a lot of money. It's more money because it's a bigger project, and it's more money because its also the highest priority project for the state of Louisiana."

Discussions during the open house meetings this week could aid in the senate's decision to grant $500 million dollars of additional funding towards a new Mississippi River bridge.