NEW ORLEANS — 12:40PM UPDATE: Just a little more than an hour after the right lanes in both directions of the Causeway Bridge were opened following the closure due to severe weather caused by an 'Arctic Blast' crossing New Orleans on Tuesday, Causeway Police announced that the southbound lanes are closed due to an incident.
The freezing weather sweeping Louisiana is causing dangerous conditions on the Causeway Bridge Tuesday morning.
Causeway crews have begun de-icing eight miles of the Causeway Bridge which had been closed in both directions.
Causeway Commission General Manager, Carlton Dufrechou, said the processes will take some time.
“We did start the de-icing operations on the bridge, but it's going to be a while. We've got the northern third of the bridges covered with ice, the rain and then the sleet from about two to four really did a number on us,” Dufrechou told WWL Louisiana Morning News.
“The good news is that dawn is breaking, and temperatures will come up but we hope to have the bridge open by late morning and we'll probably be one lane operation.”
Dufrechou said there were no reports of accidents on the bridge thanks to the quick observations of Causeway police.
“Our officers were the first to notice the ice they were patrolling all night long. And once it started to develop in a pretty large area, that's when they call the Colusa bridge I think it was about 2:30 this morning that we shut down. But the good news is the wet stuff is beyond this. We will come out of this but it's going to be a couple hours before we're able to open the bridge,” he said.
“Ice is an anomaly for us. We are prepared for it, but, like everyone else in Southeast Louisiana, we can handle hurricanes and all that kind of good stuff, but ice will do a number on us. But again, the Causeway will reopen. We are very fortunate to be surrounded by a terrific staff that are out there in very cold conditions and doing their best to get the bridge reopened as soon as we can.”
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