I-10 Twin Span Bridge - New Orleans to Slidell, Louisiana
N 30° 09.442 W 089° 51.111
16R E 225324 N 3339659
The I-10 Twin Spans are trestle bridges that cross the eastern part of Lake Pontchartrain. Hurricane Katrina destroyed parts of these bridges and Bailey Bridges were used to repair them.
Waymark Code: WM6W9G
Location: Louisiana, United States
Date Posted: 07/27/2009
Views: 20
The I-10 Twin Span Bridge, known locally as the Twin Spans, consists of two parallel trestle bridges. These parallel bridges cross the eastern end of Lake Pontchartrain in southern Louisiana from New Orleans, Louisiana to Slidell, Louisiana. The bridges were opened at a short ceremony on December 21, 1965 and are each constructed with 433 65-foot concrete segments.
After Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, the Twin Spans suffered extensive damage. The rising storm surge had shifted bridge segments off of their piers or in some cases pulled them completely off the piers. The eastbound span was missing 38 segments with another 170 misaligned, while the westbound span was missing 26 segments with 265 misaligned. 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. 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 (72 km)-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. (All text for this waymark was copied from Wikipedia.)
Bridge Length (Optional): 5.5 miles
Intended use: Cars, Trucks, Motorcycles
Date Built/Opened: 01/06/2006
Replacement?: yes
Suggested Parking: Not Listed
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Visit Instructions:
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