Louisiana DOTD and Contractor work in the vicinity of I-10/I-610,

Pontchartrain Blvd., West End Blvd., and Canal Blvd.

A couple of weeks ago a section of the Pontchartrain Blvd. bridge deck over I-610 and I-10 failed. This bridge deck was constructed in the 1960s and used a "light-weight" concrete deck material. At the time the use of this material was seen as an economical way to reduce structure cost by reducing the overall dead load structure weight. Unfortunately, however, through the years this "light-weight" concrete has deteriorated and requires replacement with conventional concrete.

The deck failure that recently occurred on the inbound section of Pontchartrain Blvd. has required the DOTD to close a portion of the bridge and reduce traffic flow to one lane. The DOTD has declared the repair of this bridge section an emergency and is negotiating an immediate authorization to remove and replaced the affected bridge deck areas. The work will include deck removal and replacement over the in-bound and out-bound lanes of I-10. In order to expedite this work the DOTD traffic engineering staff, bridge design staff, and district construction personnel are developing traffic routing plans to accomplish this work in the shortest possible time.

In order to accomplish this work in a timely and efficient manner, the impact on traffic flow on in and out bound I-10 and traffic flow for in-bound Pontchartrain Blvd. are being evaluated. The project goal is to minimize disruption of the traffic flow on I-10 which will be affected by the overhead Pontchartrain Blvd. bridge deck removal and replacement. As the construction traffic routing plan is finalized we will advise your office and provide extensive media announcements advising of the traffic impacts several day before start of the emergency construction.

Separate to the work described above, the DOTD has awarded a construction maintenance contract to Boh Bros. Construction to provide asphalt overlay adjustments of the roadway to bridge approaches along I-610 from the I-10/I-610 junction to St. Bernard Ave. As part of this work a plan change was authorized to also remove the old asphalt surface and resurface the section of Canal Blvd. at the I-610 interchange. Under a prior project some years back the City had reconstructed Canal Blvd. on either side of I-610 but did not include the section under the I-610 overpass main line. The DOTD determined that this section of pavement needed rehabilitation and has included this work in the bridge approach leveling maintenance contract.

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