BELLE CHASSE, La. — Ramps leading to the new Belle Chasse Bridge appear to be sinking.
Crews are now tearing up the bridge approaches they just built.
According to the contractor, the ground settlement exceeded their initial expectations.
Monday, the LA Transportation Secretary Joe Donahue told the Joint Legislative Committee on Transportation the ramps don’t meet state standards and specifications.
“Whenever you settle two inches or five inches, may not seem like a lot when you’re looking at an enormous bridge and everything else, but it matters,” Donahue testified.
Sen. Pat Connick, R-Marrero asked Donahue if the contractor discovered what was causing the sinkage and how to fix it.
Connick: Did they admit what happened, what went wrong or why were the plans approved?
Donahue: Yes, I mean the plans were vetted and all of those assumed the standard and specs would be met. One of them is you have to have certain heights and elevations.
Drivers are already using the southbound lanes of the bridge.
Belle Chasse residents are concerned.
“I think they should have really checked it out before they started building on it knowing the area, that canal over there, your underground is going to be moist, a lot,” Walter Howard said.
“They need to stop building the bridge, go back to the beginning and fix what they didn’t do in the first place because apparently, they did something wrong,” Amy Wilder said.
A spokesperson for the bridge construction contractor sent the following statement to WWL Louisiana regarding the project:
“The engineers are actively evaluating the settlement under the approaches to the new Belle Chasse Bridge and will provide further information as it becomes available. While some ground settlement is expected in Louisiana due to the state’s unique geological and environmental conditions, this particular settlement has exceeded expectations.
"Remediation work is currently underway – starting with investigation and removals, which will cause some traffic impacts, including traffic shifts, lane closures, and roadway restriping. This necessary work may delay the full opening of the bridge. At this time, we do not have cost estimates available."
As part of the potential fix, the ramps will be rebuilt.
“I do think that as an acknowledgment that it needed to be reconstructed and so they could not do a repair or fix on the work that had been previously performed that would satisfy the requirements that DOTD has placed out there,” Donahue said.
The new bridge would replace the old Judge Perez vertical-lift bridge over the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway and the Belle Chasse Tunnel.
“It makes me scared to go across it or to have my family driving across it,” Wilder said.
“I think if it was really dangerous and sunk a lot they probably wouldn’t let anybody go over it,” Howard said.
The construction of the new bridge is 92 percent complete.
According to the contract, the deadline for the state’s partial acceptance of the bridge was April 13, 2024
The developer is now being assessed $10,000 a day in damages.
According to DOTD, tolls will not be implemented on the new Belle Chasse Bridge until a fix is found to the sinkage problem and that potential fix is approved by the state.