Louisiana Revised Statutes Tit. 48, § 2171. Purpose; findings; determinations

A. The development, improvement, expansion, and maintenance of an efficient, safe, and well-maintained system of railways, transitways, and other transportation facilities that promote mobility are essential to Louisiana's economic health and are intended to act as a system that provides a basis for business and industry to compete cost effectively on a regional, national, and global scale in order to provide a high quality of life for the people of this state.

B. The expansion of local and regional transportation facilities is vital to the growth and development of the parishes and the state.

C. Public sources of revenues, including federal funding, that provide an efficient transportation system have not kept pace with the state's growing population and transportation needs; therefore, available alternative sources of revenue generation should be utilized to supplement currently available public funding in order to provide these needed transportation facilities.

D. Since public funding sources are not providing the state with sufficient revenues to meet all of its transportation needs, parishes and municipalities are hereby encouraged to utilize public-private partnerships as an additional means to assist in financing improvements to the state transportation system, especially the development of a rail travel choice in Louisiana in order to meet regional and local transportation needs.

E. Nothing in this Chapter shall be construed to usurp the property rights of privately owned freight railroads or abrogate the rights and responsibilities of privately owned freight railroads under federal law as carriers of interstate commerce.