Whither Interstate 10 Bridges?
I wondered in an earlier post, about how many people were lost from the Interstate 10 bridges that had spanned Lake Pontchartrain. (See video linked there. It was shot shortly after the storm.)
It seems that these bridges will necessarily be repaired. It seems also however, in 20-20 hindsight, that there was a failure of imagination, in their design. They obviously were not built high enough. They were built after Betsy, while I was living in Slidell.
In the fly-down video, it is apparent that the water at that time was still within three feet or so of the span supports, maybe yet ten feet above normal. The "Humps" appeared undamaged after a certain height.
I don't know what the planning will be for the restoring of these bridges. It seems that many of the spans that now reside on the lakebed would be usable in re-construction. To merely re-place them however, seems shortsighted. Seems that at ten feet or so higher, those bridges would have survived intact.
I think that before any rebuilding, consideration should be given to re-building it higher, ten feet or so, by building extensions atop of the existing bridge supports. Certainly, such a project would take longer, and be more costly than merely "restoring" those bridges as they were. It would be much less costly in time and expense, than rebuilding from scratch, and provide a better margin for the future.
Not being a Bridge Design Engineer, I can only offer an opinion. It seems to me however, worthy of consideration. I leave the evaluations of this proposal to those responsible.
It seems that these bridges will necessarily be repaired. It seems also however, in 20-20 hindsight, that there was a failure of imagination, in their design. They obviously were not built high enough. They were built after Betsy, while I was living in Slidell.
In the fly-down video, it is apparent that the water at that time was still within three feet or so of the span supports, maybe yet ten feet above normal. The "Humps" appeared undamaged after a certain height.
I don't know what the planning will be for the restoring of these bridges. It seems that many of the spans that now reside on the lakebed would be usable in re-construction. To merely re-place them however, seems shortsighted. Seems that at ten feet or so higher, those bridges would have survived intact.
I think that before any rebuilding, consideration should be given to re-building it higher, ten feet or so, by building extensions atop of the existing bridge supports. Certainly, such a project would take longer, and be more costly than merely "restoring" those bridges as they were. It would be much less costly in time and expense, than rebuilding from scratch, and provide a better margin for the future.
Not being a Bridge Design Engineer, I can only offer an opinion. It seems to me however, worthy of consideration. I leave the evaluations of this proposal to those responsible.
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