NEW ORLEANS -- As the new Twin Span bridges begin reaching across Lake Pontchartrain, part of the old Twin Spans are finding a new lease on life - under the water.
"Within one year it will be in full swing," said fishing captain Dudley Vandenborre.
Workers are taking pieces of concrete, that once made up the old bridges, and are placing them into Lake Pontchartrain to create an artificial reef, between the Highway 11 Bridge and the new Twin Spans. It is part of a new initiative to use old construction material for new coastal projects.
"This is actually the first of a kind that is going to hopefully be a prototype in the future, where we take old infrastructure, as we replace it on the coast, and find ways of recycling and re-using that material for other coastal projects," said Tim Osborn of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"I love to fish, so the more places we, the more places people have to go out and fish, the better it is," said Vandenborre, who first floated the idea to state and local officials about using the old bridge material to build the reef. "It'll collect fish, tide will run around it and it will congregate the fish in an area where it's more accessible to people fishing. That's going to be the good part about it: people will be able to see boats out here fishing."
Over the years, Lake Pontchartrain lost a lot of its hard bottom habitat. The artificial reef could help begin restoring some of it, by enhancing the environment and increasing the diversity of the habitat available to marine life. When all is said and done, the artificial reef will span several acres along the lake bottom.
"The fisheries in this area really needed some extra habitat," said John Walther with the Louisiana Coastal Conservation Association. "The bridges are basically the only structural habitat in Lake Pontchartrain."
By the end of the spring, though, the bridges will have some underwater company.
"They'll have a great place to go fish right out here between the two bridges and Frank Davis will probably be one of the first ones there, I would imagine," said Volkert construction engineer Steve Heraty.
There are plans to build a second artificial reef closer to the Northshore, once crews finish demolishing other portions of the old Twin Spans.
