IBERVILLE PARISH - One church in St. Gabriel is concerned about a proposed location for DOTD's new bridge, saying the site would cut across its property.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, DOTD held meetings in Iberville Parish to discuss progress regarding a new Mississippi River Bridge and show the three proposed locations for the bridge. The bridge would be located south of the Mississippi River Bridge and connect LA 1 and LA 30. DOTD said it is expected to cost around $2 billion dollars.

Many residents agreed that something needed to be done about the traffic congestion.

"We need another bridge; we have so much traffic coming through. The plant is unbelievable, a lot of that plant traffic will go across this new bridge. We're just upset it has taken so long to do it," Plaquemine Resident David LoBue said.

In St. Gabriel, the First Mount Carmel Baptist Church is concerned about one of the potential sites.

"One of the places they have in mind runs through our church and our cemetery, and we don't want that," Deacon Reginald Grace said.

Grace said the church was built in 1868.

"We were the first church, the first African American Church in that area. Other churches came after us," he said.

Right now, DOTD said it is in the environmental assessment phase, which means it is looking at any factors that make a location the right fit, including traffic and minimizing environmental impact.

"Where you're allowed to cross the river, the span that will cross the river, you have to look for pipelines, historical impacts, impacts to plants and refineries," DOTD Public Information Director Rodney Mallett said.

Mallett said all the information will be gathered and presented to the Federal Highway Administration before DOTD can move forward. DOTD said historic structures, like First Mount Carmel, will be considered.

"It's certainly something that we'll continue to look at, and we'll try to minimize any impacts that we have at any of the crossings," Mallett said.

"We welcome a new bridge if it's put in the right place," Grace said.