Folks who live along Bayou Lafourche know LA 308 is a road you need. Since July 17, a closed bridge near McCloud Road has sent drivers on detours. Now a replacement is on a fast track.
The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development is moving forward with a $5.1 million project to replace the closed LA 308 bridge over a drainage canal near McCloud Road in Lafourche Parish, according to a DOTD announcement on Oct. 12. The new crossing will be wider and realigned, designed to improve safety.
A wider bridge
The old bridge is 25 feet wide and has no shoulders. The replacement will be 30 feet wide, with two 11-foot travel lanes and two 4-foot shoulders.
LA 308 is a heavily traveled corridor that carries about 12,000 vehicles a day through the area, according to DOTD.
The work will include removing parts of the existing bridge as needed, building the replacement bridge and finishing related roadway improvements. DOTD says the rest of the old bridge will be removed later in the project.
Moving faster
After the bridge closed, DOTD moved the project's bid date from December to September so construction could start sooner. The Lafourche Parish Government shared DOTD's timeline in a Sept. 18 update:
- A pre-bid meeting was held Aug. 27.
- The project was let Sept. 9.
- The contract was awarded Sept. 14.
- The contractor had until Sept. 29 to execute the contract, which includes a 30-day assembly period.
According to that update, James Construction won the bid with 213 calendar days, which works out to about seven months of contract time. "The contractor and the district are fully aware of the urgency to initiate and complete construction," the parish said.
DOTD says construction is scheduled to begin in mid-November. To reopen the bridge as quickly as possible, the contractor plans to work seven days a week during much of the project, weather permitting. The goal is to reopen the bridge by next summer, also weather permitting.
Drivers shouldn't expect relief right away. The bridge will stay fully closed throughout construction, and the existing detours will remain in place, according to DOTD.
DOTD pointed drivers to two nearby crossings. The Champagne-Harrelson Memorial Bridge over Bayou Lafourche, just south of Mathews, is about three miles north of the closure. The LA 3220 bridge over Bayou Lafourche is about 0.6 miles south.
Anyone who has been driving the detour since July should plan on several more months of it.
"DOTD appreciates the public's patience during construction and encourages motorists to continue following the posted detour," the agency said.
For a $5.1 million bridge, this one has a lot going on. Crews will take out part of the old bridge, build a new and wider one on a realigned path, finish the road work that ties it in, then remove the rest of the old structure later. All of that has to happen over a drainage canal.
The schedule is the other big piece. Moving the bid up by three months, allowing a 30-day assembly period, and planning seven-day work weeks for much of the job all point to one thing: getting 12,000 vehicles a day back on LA 308 as soon as possible.
That kind of pace takes planning. Materials have to show up when crews need them, inspections have to keep up, and weather can still slow things down, which is why DOTD keeps adding "weather permitting" to its timeline.
Why it matters for Contractors
The LA 308 bridge is a good example of how DOTD can move fast when a road is closed. Moving a bid date up three months gets a project out the door sooner, but it also means contractors have to be ready to respond quickly. James Construction won this one, and its plan to work seven days a week during much of the project means steady work for bridge crews, equipment operators, concrete and rebar crews and trucking. Suppliers of concrete, steel and aggregate should also be ready for a compressed schedule. For Lafourche Parish businesses, getting the bridge open by next summer will matter for everyone who uses LA 308 every day. And for other bridge contractors, it's a reminder to keep an eye on DOTD lettings, because an emergency can move a project up fast.