City-bound Crescent City Connection to have 18 months of lane closures
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Driving on the city-bound Crescent City Connection in New Orleans is about to get a heck of a lot tougher. Video: Chelsea Brasted/Axios
Heads up, West Bankers: The city-bound Crescent City Connection has lane closures scheduled for the next 18 months, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development says.
Why it matters: Yep, you read that right. A whole year and a half of snarled traffic.
The big picture: The construction project is part of routine maintenance for the twin span, DOTD Deputy Secretary W. Beau Black said last week.
- The older bridge, which has West Bank-bound traffic lanes, opened in 1958 and had its routine repairs done in the 1990s, Black said.
- Now, the newer, East Bank-bound bridge is due for similar upkeep with painting and repairs on the vertical truss system, Black said. The bridge remains safe to drive on in the meantime.
Closures this week: The bridge's two right-side, city-bound lanes underneath the trusses will close overnight starting at 8pm Tuesday, Nov. 3, through 6am Wednesday morning.
- They'll also be closed from 7pm to 6am overnight Wednesday and Thursday.
- Both HOV lanes will also close for inspections Friday, Nov. 6, at 7pm. They'll reopen Monday, Nov. 9 at 6am.
- Expect one HOV lane to close during a later phase of construction.
Long-term closures: Starting Friday, the right-side, city-bound lane will remain closed throughout construction. (It will reopen temporarily Jan. 30, 2027, before closing again after Mardi Gras.)
- The Tchoupitoulas exit will remain open.
Flashback: Closures on the CCC are fresh in local memories thanks to the work it took to reinstall the bridge's new lights, as well as Super Bowl-related cleaning projects.
- But crews couldn't have installed the lights and made the repairs simultaneously, DOTD spokesperson Daniel Gitlin says.
- The structural repairs require "cleaning and abrasive blasting, with containment installed to keep debris from scattering," he says. "That work would interfere with lighting crews trying to access the same areas."
- Plus, the lighting project was already accelerated with double shifts to meet its deadline, he notes. A concurrent maintenance project would have just been too complicated.
Between the lines: The bridge sees about 160,000 travelers a day, Black said, so traffic's going to suffer.
What we're watching: DOTD is legally prevented from allowing single riders to use HOV lanes, but the department can adjust times that the traffic direction switches from city-bound to West Bank-bound.
- That may happen, Black said, depending on how tight the travel lanes become.
Follow the money: The construction project by Southern Road and Bridge will cost $6.5 million, Black said.