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Construction of a new six-lane bridge spanning Bayou Terrebonne at Prospect Street has cost businesses on both banks of the bayou for nearly three years.
With the new bridge temporarily opened last week, and the $26.7 million project nearly done, business owners in the vicinity are expressing relief.
They recognize, however, that there will be another closure as the work is finalized, and are eager for the time when their customers will no longer have to cope with detours.
“It’s a little busier,” Jennifer Blanchard, a manager at the New China Restaurant on Prospect Street, said of how things have gone since last week’s opening of the new span. “We were slower, and we did lose business. It does cause a lot of confusion traffic-wise at the light.”
According to the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, more than 18,000 vehicles cross the bridge daily.
In addition to widening the lift-bridge from two lanes to six, the completed project will see widening portions of both Main and Prospect streets in the bridge’s vicinity, and elevation at those intersections to provide uniform approaches.
The two-lane structure bottlenecked traffic crossing the bayou to a standstill for years, residents and DOTD engineers say.
A closure of the bridge will occur within six to seven weeks, although dates have not been set. The additional work to be done will last for about a week, a statement from DOTD estimates.
Bambi Hall, a DOTD spokeswoman, said department officials will examine how much in fines the contractor, James Construction of Baton Rouge, might have to pay for delays that occurred in the building of the bridge.
“The delay has been due to mechanical and electrical issues,” said Hall. Determining the amount of fines – if any – based on a $5,000 per day schedule will be done as part of a DOTD investigation, she said, once the job is complete.
In order for the company to avoid fines, delays must be deemed “reasonable,” according to DOTD standards. The opening of the bridge had been delayed by nearly a year.
In October, state officials said damage and delays related to Hurricane Isaac were placing the plan off-schedule. One of the difficulties was a damaged control desk, its shortcoming discovered upon delivery. The control desk is located in the operator’s house. It houses all the controls that operate the bridge.
At that time, Hall and other officials said the contractor was working six and seven days per week to bring it to completion.
“Though it has had its share of challenges, it will be delivered safely and efficiently for the citizens of Terrebonne Parish,” Hall said then.
A decision to open the bridge came after DOTD personnel inspected it and determined a safe opening for vehicular traffic was possible, even though additional parts needed to open and close the bridge have not been received and are still on order.
The work during that one week period, DOTD said, will include plugging switches on the upper machinery platforms, which act to reverse the main drive motors while the bridge deck is lowered into place. That component, state officials said, acts as a secondary braking system “That helps the bridge deck lower gently into place.”
A truck is crossing the Prospect Street Bridge just after 9 a.m. on Monday morning. The bridge is currently open for traffic, but will close for repair in about six weeks.
