BATON ROUGE mdash; After years of planning, the state is taking a major step toward building a new bridge over the Mississippi River, with one state representative saying that a bridge location could be identified within the next year.State and local leaders met Monday for an update on the project' s status before construction can begin. The main focus of the meeting was to find a way to pay for the massive projectState Rep. Dixon McMakin says that developing a financing plan could help move the project along.nbsp;"One of the reasons we passed legislation this year was to have state reps and state senators on board to try to expedite that process," McMakin said.nbsp;The proposed bridge will likely be built south of the existing I-10 Mississippi River Bridge, connecting the east and west sides of the river through a new corridor. An exact location, however, has not been selected, with three potential sites near Plaquemine.nbsp;"What is the least impacted area for this new bridge location?" East Baton Rouge Parish Director of Transportation and Drainage Fred Raiford asked.nbsp;McMakin and his fellow lawmakers say they are optimistic the project is getting closer thanks to state and parish governments.Permalink| Comments ...read more read less