Plaquemine Ferry (Donaldsonville, Port Allen, Many: appointed, to rent, to live in)

[PUNKYJR]

My family and I are moving to the area. I will be working in Plaquemine. The job is for only 20 months so we want to rent. We looked in the Addis and Brusly areas but there is very little to choose from in renting. We are looking at staying on the East side. My concern is if the ferry is reliable. This will affect where on the east we look for a place. Thank you in advance for any help.

[darylwi]

The Plaquemine ferry is fairly reliable although the time table gets a little warped throughout the day. Sometimes they can make the runs quick and other times they might only make three runs in an hour instead of four.
It also costs to go westbound towards Plaquemine. Of course there are monthly passes you can get instead of paying the $1 every day.
I used to live in Plaquemine and I had no problems going towards the eastbank to get to south BR or Ascension, but I didn't take it as much going westbound mostly because I was coming from LSU and didn't want to get there and the line be long or whatnot. From Plaquemine, it's not real difficult to just drive up LA 1 to I-10 and then cross over into BR, but if you're in BR and drive down to Sunshine and the ferry is down or the line is long then you're out of luck. You sit it out or drive all the way back and cross the bridge.
You could also put DOTD on speed-dial and give them a call each morning or watch WAFB traffic reports to get the news about ferry service.

[Rosinante]

No need to drive down to the ferry then be disappointed that it is closed for some reason, just check its status online:

LaDOTD: Ferry Status

If you are worried about spending the $1 per day to ride the ferry, you could always take the I-10 bridge.

[PUNKYJR]

Rosinante,darylwi

Thank you for the link and info. The money is not a concern. It is the time it would take me going back and forth to work if I were to live on or near Bluebonnetor just south of the mall I guess? I work from 7am to 5:30pm normally?

[darylwi]

I would be primarily concerned with crossing westbound towards Plaquemine at 6:15 or 6:45am. I don't know what plant traffic is like heading towards DOW, Georgia Gulf, Shintech, etc. You might have to make sure you're there for the 6:15 to make sure you either get on the 6:15 boat or take the bridge around.
Afternoon should be fine. 5:30 usually isn't as bad as say 3pm-5pm. If you get off at 5:30 exactly though, you would miss the 5:30 boat and have to wait until 6pm. But depending on the day, trying to cross that bridge into BTR could be hell. Average days it might be easier on the bridge, but on some you'd take just as long maybe longer than just waiting in Plaquemine for the 6pm ferry.

The ferry leaves Plaquemine on the top and bottom of the hour; it leaves the eastbank on the quarter hour.

[PUNKYJR]

darlwi,

Thanks for the info. We are going to go up in a couple weeks I will drive the commute on the bridge and take the ferry just to get a sence of it.

[redbean]

There are MANY times during the year, most of the spring in particular, when the ferry is not running due to high water or weather conditions. Be sure you want to put up with driving for months at a time.

Personally I would think about commuting from Donaldsonville or Port Allen.