re: Vintage 15 minute video showing construction of the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge.

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

I watched the I-55 build between Ponchatoula and Laplace on my daily commute. Driving the old Hwy 51 was an experience on Fridays. Two lanes plus the shoulders produced 4 lane traffic at times going in who knows what direction. It was wild at times. So glad when I-55 was completed. Very similar construction (Boh Brothers?).

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My chainsaw whipped my arse Saturday on dry ground. I couldn’t imagine using it in a swamp all day, on awkward cypress trees, fighting the mud, and not being able to set it down to rest.

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You sound like you have very soft palms.


Man up, pussy.

I commute to Broussard every weekday. Always wondered how they did that.

You can see the old Houma Bridges that were replaced by the twin spans at about the 5 min mark. Pretty cool video.

OSHA would have had a field day with all those violations on that video if they were around.

Great video.

Thanks for posting.

Probably the first and last time that bridge looked completely clean. DOT should take a boat and a pressure washer and spray the columns.

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You can see the old Houma Bridges that were replaced by the twin spans at about the 5 min mark. Pretty cool video.

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Saw that too.

Also, for the people thinking that something like this would not be built again.

In the 90’s they built the “new” US 90 section over the swamps of Terrebonne, some of it was bridge while other parts are ground level fill. The bridges were built using end over end construction where a channel would not need to be dug. Basically, they built the bridge onsite and in place.

I can remember when they setup a cement fabrication area between the Highway 311 exit and the first and longest bridge.

A same process that was used for the new LA 1 section, although where the crossing of Bayou Lafourche they dug a channel as you can see an eroding spoil bank as you make the curve before the first turn off.

There is another video about the I-10 section in New Orleans East called Miles over Marshes.

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310 being built by TL James. It was all precast as well. I think the deck may have received a thin overlay.

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I forgot about that one, but that looks like end over end construction where you build over what you just built. That way you can avoid digging a canal.

If we look into the future, if DOTD ever gets off the pot for sections of I-49 South between Raceland and the Westbank Expressway then you would probably see the same construction method for sections over water-lands such as in Des Allemands and between Boutte and Avondale.