Causeway’s rehab to improve safety
The world’s longest uninterrupted bridge is getting one of the world’s largest facelifts. The 24-mile-long Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge between New Orleans and Louisiana’s North Shore is in the midst of a 10-year, $70 million rehabilitation that includes road surface texturing, piling repair and installation of new call boxes.
According to bridge engineer Bryan Clement, the bridge carries approximately 3,300 vehicles an hour during peak periods and about 30,000 vehicles a day. The bridge and approach roads are owned and operated by the Greater New Orleans Expressway Commission. Based on the age and condition of the bridges, in 1995, the commission decided that the 39-year-old southbound and 28-year-old northbound bridges needed rehabilitation. Since the causeway is not part of the federal or state highway system and receives no federal money, the commission raised the toll for the bridge’s cash customers from $1.00 to $1.50 to cover capital improvement costs.
The Capital Improvements Master Plan Rehabilitation Program includes more than 20 projects. The goal of the rehabilitation program is “to bring the entire system of roads and bridges to its original construction design standard,” Clement says. He states that approximately one-third of the work is complete, one-third are under way, and the final third is still in the engineering design stage.
Engineers already have replaced impact attenuators on the causeway; repaired and resurfaced the north and west approach roads; upgraded electrical transformers to current codes; painted the steel spans; and replaced finger joints on the southbound bridge with epoxy concrete. Fender replacement work also has been completed on one of the two marine crossings.
During 1999, causeway work included restoring the skid resistance on the bridge decks. The texturing work, performed by Humble Equipment, Ruston, La., involved removing markers, milling the roadway and then replacing the reflectors and signs. Texturing was completed in February 1999.
Current work focuses on replacing the variable message signs, call boxes and high-intensity lights. That $6 million safety improvement project will be completed in March, followed by the replacement of high-voltage cable on the bridge, according to Clement. The commission also will replace the second fender system, which protects the bridge from marine traffic, and restore the pilings.