Belle Chasse Bridge & Tunnel Project: Upcoming Permanent Tunnel Closure & Traffic Shift
Thursday, December 14, 2023 at 12:01:47 PM
BELLE CHASSE, La. - The Belle Chasse Bridge and Tunnel Replacement Project announces notification of an upcoming traffic shift to occur sometime between Monday, December 18, 2023, and Friday, December 29, 2023. The precise date of this switch is to be announced when available.
During this shift, the Belle Chasse Tunnel will permanently close to vehicular traffic. Lanes will shift on southbound LA 23 between Engineers Rd. and Barriere Rd., guiding motorists to travel on the newly constructed portion of the Belle Chasse Bridge. Motorists will continue to utilize the existing Belle Chasse Bridge when traveling northbound on LA 23.
There will be intermittent lane closures in this corridor performed during the daytime between 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM and during the nighttime between 7:00 PM to 5:00 AM during this timeframe. However, no traffic changes will occur between Sunday, December 24, 2023, and Tuesday, December 26, 2023, in observance of the Christmas holiday.
In addition to this traffic shift, there will be a temporary detour of the right southbound turn from Engineers Rd. onto LA 23. Between Thursday, December 21, 2023, and Monday, January 29th, 2024, motorists wishing to turn right from Engineers Rd. onto LA 23 will instead turn left from Engineers Rd. onto LA 23 and then use the Burmaster St. U-turn to travel southbound on LA 23.
Road signs will be posted to route traffic through this area.
As a reminder, tolling does not begin on the new Belle Chasse Bridge until its final completion, slated for Spring 2024.
To sign up for project updates, please visit bellechassebridge.com and provide your email address for notifications to go directly to your inbox as the new bridge construction continues. Interested parties can submit questions to the project team via email at info@bellechassebridge.com. You can also follow the project on Facebook @BelleChasseBridge and Twitter @Bridge_BC.