NEW ORLEANS — Tuesday began in catastrophe in Baltimore as a cargo ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge and forced it to crumble. Despite the distance from Southeast Louisiana, the video may have sparked questions about our own infrastructure, as bridges are a key component of many residents’ daily commute.
DOTD says you can never be 100 percent certain a crash and collapse will never happen in the area, but they say, overall, our bridges are safe and in good condition. Bridges in the area get thoroughly inspected, at minimum, once every two years.
“They look at the deck, the substructure which is the piers and columns. They look at the superstructure which can be anything below the deck and they’re looking for cracks, they’re looking for settlement, any type of rust, they’re looking for things that are hanging or bolts that’s missing,” Scott Boyle, DOTD District Engineer Administrator said.
During the inspections, bridges get rated on a scale of one through 10, 10 being the best possible condition.
“A good bridge may be something above a seven and we start to really look closely at bridges when they’re at a 4 or below,” Boyle said. “For the most part over 85 percent of our bridges are in a fair or better condition.”
DOTD says the Crescent City Connection is one of the most traveled bridges in the state and was last inspected in the summer of 2022 with an inspection due this summer. It’s currently rated a six, according to DOTD.
New Orleans is also one of the biggest ports in the world. DOTD says precautions are in place to prevent a vessel from crashing into a bridge.
“On bridges, we’ll have a marine fender system down in the waterway. The marine fender system serves as a protection system for the bridge itself to deflect the vessel should it be approaching the bridge itself,” David Brasset, the District Bridge Engineer for DOTD’s New Orleans district said.
Boyle also says in the case of a collision, they’re notified by the captain or pilot and will immediately loop in the Coast Guard.
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