WASHINGTON — Gov. Jeff Landry on Wednesday asked the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for federal funding to help fund a new bridge over the Mississippi River in Louisiana's capital region.

While testifying before the committee with other officials, Landry said the current bridge, which connects the two sides of the river via Interstate 10 and must be crossed when traveling between east from Texas, is a necessity.

"Ninety-thousand vehicles move between the state of Texas and the state of Louisiana, carrying commercial transportation," he said.

While testifying, Landry said that the Baton Rouge segment of this path has the fourth-highest rate of traffic congestion in the nation. Landry alluded to the fact that this will only become more exaggerated as the state increases its freight-hauling numbers, saying that Louisiana is expected to have the third-largest freight growth in the nation by 2050.

"If you are traveling from Texas to New Orleans and you get to Baton Rouge, you will see what I mean," Landry said in his plea to the committee. "We could use some help in being able to procure (the funds)... and we're not asking for all of it."

The governor said he is willing to levy tolls similar to those in place on the Calcasieu River Bridge in Lake Charles.

"We need the federal government's help to eliminate that congestion, and more importantly, to help move those goods back and forth," Landry said.

During his appearance before the committee, Landry also asked for federal funding for the poor infrastructure of the bridge in Lake Charles and an I-49 corridor that would connect I-40 to New Orleans which has been in the works since the 1980s.