BATON ROUGE - Iberville Parish residents expressed concerns over the new Mississippi River bridge after DOTD gave an update about the project at the State Capitol on Monday.

Officials announced the bridge may be built from Plaquemine to near St. Gabriel. DOTD Project manager Joseph Brown said that this bridge is meant to reduce traffic and improve commuting. 

"If they're coming to south Baton Rouge or anything like that they have to fight all the way through downtown traffic. So this will allow them to have more of a direct connection into the Baton Rouge area," Brown said. 

But residents of Iberville Parish are deeply concerned. Resident Laura Comeaux says that this project will destroy Plaquemine Point, a 600-foot-wide stand of old growth forest with five environmental certifications.

"I just thought for sure with all these certifications coming that DOTD would have eliminated this pathway. But they have not. Our neighbors and community members are asking that they just take ours [area] off the list," Comeaux said.

She also said that although the forest is close to the city, it still provides a sense of solitude. It's the type of living that she and her community want to keep.

"This bridge would just bring - first off, all the destruction of all of the old growth trees and all [of] the risks that comes with the highway," She said.

Joseph Brown said that DOTD takes concerns like Comeaux's into consideration and wants to hear from more people.

"We want to take in their comments. We want to make sure that we're seeing a comprehensive view on the projects," he said.