NEW ORLEANS — Commuting to and from the east has been tricky lately for drivers wanting to use the Ted Hickey (Seabrook) Bridge. Its been shut down for nearly a month for repairs.
“I don’t believe they understand the importance of this bridge,” said Dawn Hebert, President of the East New Orleans Neighborhood Advisory Commission. “New Orleans East is really on an island, so we don’t have a lot of in and outs to go to.”
Hebert says it can be frustrating for the residents who rely on the bridge to get to and from work or appointments.
On May 25 the Department of Transportation and Development closed the bridge for “safety reasons” after a “broken steel structural member was discovered during a bridge inspection.”
“A big problem is that there is no traffic control,” said Hebert. “There is no levee board police. There is no NOPD assisting drivers to not go that way.”
Hebert and other residents say they are concerned not only because of the congestion the closure causes but also because the bridge seemingly gets shut down during the summer months. Last May the bridge was closed for a month because of emergency repairs.
Hebert sent those concerns to state representative Jason Hughes. Hughes sent them the following response.
Dear Friends,
I know many residents have questions and concerns regarding the closure, status of repairs, and estimated reopening date of the Senator Ted Hickey (Seabrook) Bridge. Please know, me, Senator Bouie, Senator Harris and Rep. Newell have been monitoring this situation closely and remain in regular contact with DOTD. Below, please find an update from DOTD regarding the Senator Ted Hickey (Seabrook) Bridge. As always, please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions or if I can be of assistance.
Sincerely,
Jason
Update from DOTD:
The Senator Ted Hickey Bridge was taken out of service for safety reasons by the Department on May 25th due to a broken steel structural member that was discovered during a recent bridge inspection. Since the bridge has been fully closed, the Department has been working diligently with our emergency contractor and design team on an expedited repair of that steel structural member. At this time, a new structural member has been fabricated and is currently being painted by our contractor in preparation for installation. This special coating process is applied in layers and will occur over the course of the next four days. We anticipate that our contractor will be on site at the bridge starting next week. The repair process will consist of erecting scaffolding and performing specialized welding of the new structural member to the existing bridge. Our timeline to completion for re-opening the bridge to one lane in each direction for vehicular traffic is now scheduled for July 7th, weather permitting. We are also concurrently working on a longer term project that will remediate other significant structural issues of the bridge that will ultimately re-open the bridge to two lanes in each direction along this route.
Please know that we are very mindful that everyone is eager for this repair to conclude so that the bridge can be re-opened to traffic.
Jason Hughes
State Representative, District 100
Louisiana House of Representatives
Hebert says repairs during the summer months are particularly worrisome.
“Hopefully it will be repaired at least by July 7 because help us if a hurricane is coming this way,” she said.