Twin Spans

A look into the future for travellers of the I-10 Twinspans.

The TP has put together a neat graphic which compares the future Twinspans to the current bridge that crosses Lake Pontchartrain.

Katrina destroyed the east bound lane of the Twinspans, as well as causing some damage on the westbound lanes, rendering the bridge useless for months. Ask dot com gives the history : The damage to the Twin Spans and to U.S. Route 90 to the east left only one route into New Orleans from the east, the U.S. Route 11 bridge just west of the Twin Spans.
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The Louisiana Department of Transportation & Development (DOTD) accepted a bid of $30.9 million from Boh Brothers Construction Company on September 9, 2005 to reconstruct the bridges, starting with the less damaged westbound span. Phase 1 of the project was to reestablish two-way traffic on the eastbound span within 45 days. Scavenged bridge segments from the westbound span were used to fill in the gaps in the eastbound span. On October 14, 2005, the east span was reopened to traffic with one lane in each direction. Phase 2 of the project was occurring concurrently to Phase 1 and involved repairs to the westbound span. Prefabricated steel bridge spans were used on the westbound bridge in two areas to replace destroyed segments and segments used on the eastbound span. The west span reopened on January 6, 2006, returning 4 lanes of traffic to flow once again. Due to the prefabricated steel segments, there are both a 45 mile-per-hour speed limit and weight restrictions on the westbound span. Additionally, the span is closed periodically for maintenance work, which is covered by Phase 3 of the original contract.