§1093. General purposes and powers

Every authority incorporated under this Part shall be for the purpose of constructing or acquiring toll bridges and ferries to improve and extend the highway system of the State of Louisiana and, subject to the consent of the affected local governmental bodies, shall also be authorized to construct or acquire transit systems, terminals and in the case of the Mississippi River Bridge Authority such parking facilities as may be required on the west bank of the Mississippi River within its jurisdiction in connection with its toll bridges and ferries so as to supplement and augment the effectiveness of its bridges and ferries and better provide for the mass movement of people; provided, however, that no such authority shall construct a transit system, in competition with an existing transit system, nor shall any such authority expropriate any portion of an existing transit system unless the entire system is purchased. It is further provided that no State Department of Highways Long Range Highway Fund monies shall be pledged or used to finance any such transit systems and terminals or parking facilities. Every such authority is hereby granted and shall have and may exercise all powers necessary or convenient for the carrying out of said purposes, including, but without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the following rights and powers:

(1) To sue and be sued;

(2) To adopt, use and alter at will a corporate seal;

(3) To acquire, purchase, lease as lessee and hold and use any franchise, property, real, personal or mixed, tangible or intangible, or any interest therein necessary or desirable for carrying out the purposes of the authority, and to sell, lease as lessor, transfer and dispose of any property or interest therein at any time acquired by it; provided, however, that title to all such property shall be taken in the name of the State of Louisiana;

(4) To acquire by purchase, lease or otherwise and to construct, improve, maintain, repair and operate toll bridges and ferries;

(5) To make by-laws for the management and regulation of its affairs;

(6) To appoint officers, agents, employees and servants; to prescribe their duties and to fix their compensation;

(7) To fix, alter, charge and collect fares and tolls, at reasonable rates to be determined exclusively by it, for the purpose of providing for the payment of the expenses of the authority, the construction, improvement, repair, maintenance and operation of its facilities and properties, the payment of the principal of and the interest upon its obligations, and to fulfill the terms and provisions of any agreements made with the purchasers, or holders of any such obligations;

(8) To borrow money, make and issue negotiable notes, bonds, refunding bonds, and other evidences of indebtedness or obligations (herein called 'bonds') of the authority, said bonds to have a maturity date not longer than fifty (50) years from the date of issue, and to secure the payment of such bonds or any part thereof by pledge or deed of trust of all or any of its revenues and receipts, and including any funds that may be dedicated thereto by any state agency or federal agency, and to make such agreements with the purchasers or holders of such bonds or with others in connection with any such bonds, whether issued or to be issued, as the authority shall deem advisable, and in general, to provide for the security of said bonds and the rights of the holders thereof;

(9) To make contracts of every nature and to execute all instruments necessary or convenient for the carrying on of its business;

(10) Without limitation of the foregoing, to borrow money and accept grants from and to enter into contracts, leases or other transactions with any federal agency or state agency and to pledge and assign to secure its bonds any such grants, contracts, leases or other transactions.

(11) To acquire in the name of the State of Louisiana by purchase or otherwise on such terms and conditions and in such manner, with or without competitive bidding, as it may deem proper, or by expropriation, under the general expropriation laws of the state and under the provision of R.S. 19:51-19:66, any existing privately owned bridges or ferry franchises and systems and land or other property, servitude, and improvement on land, which it may determine is reasonably necessary for any bridge or ferry or for the relocation or reconstruction of any bridge or ferry by the authority under the provisions of this Part or for the construction of any approaches thereto, and any and all lands, title and interest in such lands, other property, servitudes and improvement on land; provided, however, that no property owned by or in which any parish, city, town, village or other political subdivision of the State of Louisiana has any right, title or interest, or parts thereof or rights therein, may be expropriated except with the consent of such parish, municipal corporation or political subdivision. After the authority has commenced operations on a tract of land without objection on the part of the landowner, the landowner may not prevent or retard the operations by any legal process, but shall be limited to an action for damages.

(12) To pledge, hypothecate or otherwise encumber all or any of the receipts of the authority as security for all or any of the obligations of the authority;

(13) To do all acts and things necessary or convenient for the promotion of its business and the general welfare of the authority, or to carry out the powers granted to it by this Part or any other laws;

(14) To contract with any adjoining state or with any public agency or agencies of an adjoining state upon such terms as the authority shall deem proper for the acquisition, construction, and operation of any bridge or ferry which is partly in this state and partly in such adjoining state;

(15) To enter into contracts or group insurance for the benefit of its employees and to set up a retirement or pension fund for such employees. Every bridge and ferry authority authorized, created or incorporated pursuant to Act No. 7 of 1952, as amended and supplemented, shall have all of the supplemental and additional powers provided by R.S. 48:1091 through 48:1107 (Act No. 526 of 1958 as amended).

Acts 1958, No. 526, §3. Amended by Acts 1962, No. 413, §1; Acts 1966, No. 413, §1.