NEW ORLEANS — “It honestly felt like a war zone,” Kayla Ryan said. “Fog everywhere, car parts all over the bridge.”
One day after a series of nasty pile-ups on the Causeway, Kayla Ryan stayed on the North Shore.
“If I had known how bad the fog was, I would have canceled yesterday and not gone at all,” Ryan said.
Ryan slammed on the brakes just in time but describes seeing cars pushed into the sides of the bridge Tuesday morning. Only a safety railing stood between drivers and a 50-foot fall into Lake Pontchartrain.
“There are some people staying in their cars, and others are outside panicking,” Ryan said.
Lane closures and rolling convoys were in place again Wednesday, as dense fog covered the roadways.
The safety precautions were taken after sixty cars were involved in a series of multi-vehicle wrecks along the bridge Tuesday morning.
Officials say dozens of people were taken to the hospital, but every driver made it out alive.
Causeway Commission employee Grayson Crespo says that wouldn’t have been the case just a few years ago.
“I’m sure we would’ve had at least one that would’ve gone off the railings,” Causeway Commission Employee Grayson Crespo said.
The guardrails along the Southbound bridge are a fairly new addition. The Causeway Commission installed them five years ago.
Causeway officials say that for two decades, at least one person has been driving overboard each year. Since their installation, Causeway Commission President Carlton Dufrechou says countless lives have been saved.
“We haven’t had an overboard sense then,” Causeway Commission President Carlton Dufrechou said.
According to Dufrechou, they had to increase tolls to pay for the new feature.
“The majority of the commuters actually supported the increase in tolls because they recognize the need for the additional safety and the rails,” Dufrechou said.
Dufrechou says his team is reviewing Tuesday morning’s incidents to discuss what they did well, and what they can do better next time.
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