The contractor continues driving piles for the new eastbound span. Thus far, 259 of the 272 production piles have been driven.

The contractor continues pouring bridge caps. A cap is the part of the bridge that sits on top of a group of piles and will help disperse pressure to the piles below. Thus far, 58 of the 60 bent caps have been poured.

The contractor also continues to pour the bridge’s deck. Thus far, 18 of the 20 bridge deck spans have been poured. The deck is the road surface of the bridge. It rests on the girders which are supported by bents. Bents are made up of caps and piles.

In addition, work continues on building the new eastbound roadway.

The contractor has completed building the haul road on the west side of the river. The haul road was used by the contractor to bring equipment and building material to and from the job site while working on the new westbound span.

All four of the test piles have been driven. Test piles help to gather information on the conditions at the job site such as installation methods for future piles and soil type. The information determines proper pile lengths and driving criteria for the production piles for the new bridge.

The contractor completed the westbound roadway and bridge. Traffic was moved to the new bridge on Sept. 11, 2009.

The old westbound bridge was demolished on Oct. 21, 2009.

For questions or comments, contact DOTD’s Customer Service Center at 1-877-4LA-DOTD (1-877-452-3683) or e-mail customerservice@dotd.la.gov. The center is open 7:30 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

You can also visit the project’s Web page by going to www.dotd.la.gov and clicking on "Projects" from the Programs & Projects section of the main menu on the left-hand side of the page and selecting the U.S. 190 Amite River Bridge Project link.

You can also follow the U.S. 190 Amite River Bridge Project on Facebook. Once you open a Facebook account, project information can be accessed by entering "Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development" or "U.S. 190 Amite River Bridge Project" into the search field.

State Project No. 013-05-0044
Project Description: Amite River Bridge and Approaches
Parish: Livingston
Contractor: James Construction Group LLC
Contract Amount: $29.5 million
Project Engineer: Kris Wascom
Project Start Date: Dec. 2007
Project End Date: Jan. 2011

DOTD never shares, sells or discloses any e-mail addresses of anyone who signs up for our project updates.