BATON ROUGE - In one sentence, Governor Jeff Landry talked about two of Louisiana’s most pressing issues: lowering insurance rates and fixing pothole-ridden roads. With a trio of laws, one could affect the other. 

A series of bills signed into law Monday were aimed at lowering auto insurance costs in Louisiana, and three other laws restructure the Department of Transportation and Development with a focus on streamlining projects. 

“Another way that we can lower auto insurance premiums in this state is by fixing our roads,” Landry said. "The better our roads are, the fewer accidents we will have."

DOTD will be restructured, creating an independent agency dedicated to building and improving smaller roadways. Money generated from gasoline taxes would be used only for road projects instead of salaries, and a new office would make sure projects are done on time.

Mary Beth Derrickson with the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry supports the changes. 

“We've seen lots of frustration over the last couple of years with project delivery and timelines,” Derrickson said. “When businesses are looking to come to Louisiana, they want a turnkey infrastructure system. They can't do that if we have a lackluster transportation and infrastructure system.”

In collaboration, the three laws could potentially cut through red tape and speed up projects across the state.