U.S. 190 – Amite River Bridge Project
Livingston Parish
September 10, 2009
Special construction notice:
The contractor has completed the westbound roadway and bridge and will move traffic to this section on Friday, Sept. 11, 2009.
Workers will begin to shift traffic at approximately 9 a.m. The traffic shift is being done to allow the contractor to begin removing the existing westbound span to make room for crews to complete the new eastbound span. Work to begin removing the old bridge is scheduled to begin on Sept. 14 and should finish by mid-November. Drivers traveling eastbound will continue to travel on the existing eastbound span until the new bridge is complete.
Current work:
The contractor continues to drive production piles. These are the piles that will support the new bridge. Thus far, 176 of the 270 production piles have been driven. A pile is a concrete post that is driven into the ground to act as a leg or support for the new bridge. They are driven into the ground using a pile-driver. The pile-driver is a machine that acts similar to a hammer hitting a nail, driving the pile into the ground.
The contractor continues to pour 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, 46 of the 60 bent caps have been poured.
The contractor continues pouring the bridge’s deck. Thus far, 14 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.
The contractor continues to install the bridge’s girders. Thus far, 264 of the 348 girders have been put into place. Girders are like the arms of the bridge. They extend from bent to bent and support the bridge decking. They also help disperse pressure to the bents.
In addition, the contractor has begun building the new bridge’s approaches.
Brief description of completed work:
The contractor has completed building the haul road on the east side of the river. The haul road is used by the contractor to bring equipment and building material to and from the job site throughout the duration of the project.
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 also finished laying asphalt for a temporary travel lane that allowed them to move traffic over so they can build the new bridge’s approaches.
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 a.m. – 6 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 "DOTD" or "U.S. 190 Amite River Bridge Project" into the search field.
If you are a member of a homeowners association and would like a DOTD speaker to attend one of your meetings to share information about this project, please let me know.
Again, we thank you for your feedback and patience during this construction. Additionally, at your convenience, please let us know how we are doing by filling out our Customer Service Survey.
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: Dec. 2010
DOTD never shares, sells or discloses any e-mail addresses of anyone who signs up for our project updates.