The John James Audubon Bridge is now open!

Due to the high level of the Mississippi River causing the closure of the New Roads/St. Francisville ferry, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) opened the John James Audubon Bridge at 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 5, 2011. This emergency opening allowed continuous river-crossing access for traffic affected by the ferry closure. The ferry, which carried approximately 720 vehicles per day according to 2009-2010 DOTD statistics, is permanently closed with the opening of the Audubon Bridge.

“High water closing the ferry would have obviously caused an inconvenience for commuters, so using the new Audubon Bridge is a logical alternative,” said DOTD Secretary Sherri H. LeBas, P.E. “Since this is an emergency situation, we’ve talked to the contractor and determined that it’s 100% safe to allow traffic on the bridge at this time. However, there’s still construction work remaining on the bridge. Drivers should be aware that future road and bridge impacts may be necessary to complete the construction that remains on the project.”

DOTD held a press conference to discuss the emergency opening of the John James Audubon Bridge. The press conference was held on Thursday, May 5 at 10 a.m. The New Roads/St. Francisville ferry service permanently closed at 10 a.m. The bridge was opened to traffic immediately following the press conference.

The last two cable stays of the longest cable-stayed bridge in the Western Hemisphere were installed on January 3, 2011, five days after the spans were connected. The John James Audubon Bridge, Louisiana’s newest crossing over the Mississippi River, now has all of its 136 cable stays in place.

Each cable stay is anchored to a 500-foot tower, which provides support to the bridge deck. Each stay contains 20 to 69 individual cables for a total of 4,548 cables. If the cables were placed end to end, they would stretch approximately 1200 miles. Each stay is protected by an orange sheath, which has a spiral bead extending its length to resist rain and wind vibration.

The spans of the longest cable-stayed bridge in the Western Hemisphere were connected on December 29, 2010, stretching 1/3 of a mile over the Mississippi River. The John James Audubon Bridge, connecting Pointe Coupee and West Feliciana parishes in Louisiana, is approximately 92% complete. Construction of the spans began from both sides of the 500-foot tall towers in early 2010. Both sides continue to progress at a rapid pace, and now the meeting of the spans has occurred. Please note that although the two sides are connected, the bridge is still not accessible to vehicle traffic as more work needs to occur to complete the deck itself before the full bridge opening in late 2011.

The John James Audubon Bridge project is a new Mississippi River crossing between Pointe Coupee and West Feliciana parishes in south central Louisiana.

The bridge--proposed to be the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America--will replace an existing ferry between the communities of New Roads and St. Francisville.

The bridge will also serve as the only bridge structure on the Mississippi River between Natchez, Mississippi and Baton Rouge, Louisiana (approximately 90 river miles).

The Audubon Bridge project will include:

• A 2.44 mile four-lane elevated bridge structure with two 11-foot travel lanes in each direction with 8-foot outside shoulders and 2-foot inside shoulders
• Approximately 12 miles of two-lane roadway connecting LA 1 east of Hospital Road at New Roads to US 61 south of LA 966 and St. Francisville
• Four new intersections at existing LA 1, LA 10, LA 981 (River Road) and US 61 for entry to and exit from the new roadway and bridge