NEW ORLEANS - For the first time, drivers were able to use the entire length of the eastbound bridge of the new I-10 Twin Spans. Until today,they had shifted to the westbound lanes for most of the trip. But with construction on the eastbound bridge complete, crews began the process of shifting traffic before dawn this morning.
"We started between 4:30 and five o'clock this morning," said Volkert Construction Services Assistant Resident Engineer Stephen Heraty. "We were planning to start at three a.m., but we had heavy fog in the area."
"Traffic delays have been minimal," said State Transportation Department Engineer Steve Strength. "We've gotten the striping adjustment on this end that we need to do, so things are moving fairly smoothly."
Now you won't have much longer to drive on the original I-10 Twin Span. In about three weeks, the westbound lanes will be shifted to the new bridges, and these bridges will be closed forever. On the new bridge though, for a short time, drivers going in both directions will share a portion of the eastbound span.
"We'll have two lanes in each direction," Strength said, "running two lane traffic with a barrier in between, for a short distance on each end of the bridge, and then shifting the westbound traffic over to their own bridge."
"We'll have two lanes getting on each end of the bridge, but three lanes in the middle of the structure," Heraty added.
"Sometime late next year," Heraty concluded. "We're looking at 2011, hopefully a little sooner than that, but the plan is for 2011 we'll be done."
During that period, the ends of the old Twin Span bridges will be torn down so the west bound side of the new bridges can be completed, and that will be the final step in this 800-million dollar project.
Delays extended into the afternoon as crews moved concrete barriers into new positions, erased old road lane stripes, and painted new ones.
There were some eastbound traffic delays throughout the morning, both on the new bridge, and slow-downs backing up traffic for as much as a half mile before the bridge, due in part to occasional traffic stoppages, but mostly because traffic was squeezed from three lanes to one. However engineers were generally pleased with the changeover.
