Within the next six to 10 months, the state Department of Transportation and Development will go out for bids on a project to improve the 50-year-old Interstate 210 bridge, with the work costing $15 million to $20 million.

DOTD officials made the announcement May 15. According to a news release posted on the DOTD website, the work includes “re-decking the main navigational bridge spans,” along with updating the bridge railing and installing new roadway lighting.

“Additionally, a safety inspection walkway will be installed under the bridge to make future bridge inspections more cost efficient and less disruptive to the traveling public by reducing the need for lane closures,” the release reads.

DOTD Secretary Sherri LeBas said redecking the bridge span “will greatly extend the life of the bridge and ensure that DOTD can accommodate industrial expansion in the area.”

Once the work starts, it is expected to take 20 months to complete. During most of the work, one lane on the east and west sides of the bridge will be closed.

Grant Bush, executive director of the Calcasieu Regional Planning and Development Commission, said Thursday that local officials were nervous at first about hearing the announcement because the work would start around the expected peak of population growth in the area.

But, he said, things have changed since the initial wave of announcements for industrial expansion projects. Also, DOTD officials have said the project could be finished before the growth reaches its peak.

“The fluctuation in the market has moved things along,” Bush said. “(DOTD) is saying don’t wait, don’t put it off. They can go forward with what they’ve proposed, and we need to make sure to do our due diligence locally.”

Officials will offer “contractor incentives for completing the project as quickly as possible,” according to the DOTD announcement.

In terms of progress on the I-10 bridge, Bush said a second navigation study was recently completed, with the first one done in 2006. Now, he said, work can continue on an interstate justification report that should be done by mid-2016.

After that, work would start on an environmental impact statement. DOTD said that should be finished by mid-2017.

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Online: wwwsp.dotd.la.gov.

(Rick Hickman/American Press)

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