Who Is More Deserving Of A New Mississippi River Bridge?

[Bobby5280]

The main problem is the ever-escalating cost of building bridges in the United States. We're literally pricing ourselves out of being able to build anything like that.

[bwana39]

The main problem is the ever-escalating cost of building bridges in the United States. We're literally pricing ourselves out of being able to build anything like that.

For sure the engineering costs have escalated exponentially.  Is it the construction cost or engineering costs? Have the construction costs themselves ballooned similarly?

[bwana39]

Everyone up and down the river between Greenville and St. Louis is locked up over earthquake fears. That's the problem.

I think if this ever happens, the big bridges will be the least of the worries, It will be the small bridges, approaches, and overpasses that fail. No, they will not all fail, but when liquefaction of the soil occurs,  these stringer bridges may meet the same fate as the Embarcadero Freeway.  In that scenario buckling pavement on surface roads (including freeway lanes) would be devastating by itself.

I am not suggesting not being vigilant, but at the same time assuming that everything has to be replaced just in case is not an affordable (or even prudent) solution.  While there were  some replacement and upgrades in the Bay Area, even there, much of the traffic infrastructure is the same as it was before 1989.

[MikieTimT]

Everyone up and down the river between Greenville and St. Louis is locked up over earthquake fears. That's the problem.

I think if this ever happens, the big bridges will be the least of the worries, It will be the small bridges, approaches, and overpasses that fail. No, they will not all fail, but when liquefaction of the soil occurs,  these stringer bridges may meet the same fate as the Embarcadero Freeway.  In that scenario buckling pavement on surface roads (including freeway lanes) would be devastating by itself.

I am not suggesting not being vigilant, but at the same time assuming that everything has to be replaced just in case.  While there were  some replacement and upgrades in the Bay Area, even there, much of the traffic infrastructure is the same as it was before

Still more likely that the Mississippi River overtops the levees before any of that happens.  That makes for a damaging mess as well.

[Bobby5280]

For sure the engineering costs have escalated exponentially. Is it the construction cost or engineering costs? Have the construction costs themselves ballooned similarly?

Price inflation is hitting every category in such projects. The cost of materials has risen sharply in recent times, thanks in part to the pandemic and supply chain issues. Labor costs are rising. Insurance costs are rising. Engineering isn't the only "administrative" expense. There is all the legal/regulatory red tape to consider. There only seems to be more and more of that added to such projects. The sharp price increases of late have made it very difficult to accurately estimate what a highway project will cost to build. Here just recently a couple notable projects in Texas have been forced back to the drawing board because contractor bids came in much higher than the DOT's forecast estimates.

[Anthony_JK]

If the "Old Bridge" on US 190 is upgraded, they could do something like they did with the Huey P. Long in NOLA and simply strengthen the existing trusses and widen the existing roadways to 3 lanes with proper shoulders. They could also simply build a separate single span for the highway portion and either tear down the existing highway portion or convert it for pedestrian and bike usage, or just tear it down completely.

There arises an issue, however, with the eastern approach: there's an underpass where the Baton Rouge Southern (ex KCS) rail line crosses over the US 190 mainline, and then there is an at-grade crossing of the CN (ex-IC) rail line where there's also an intersection with an access road to the aluminum plant. Monte Sano Avenue, which parallels US 190, also crosses the CN line there as well. How they are going to get a freeway/tollway through that towards the Scenic Highway interchange (a scrunched cloverleaf) is going to be interesting.

If one could take a time machine back 60-70 years, one wonders how Louisiana/Baton Rouge would have dealt with that if the original I-410 would have been built.

Yeah, about that original I-410 proposal....wasn't that to use what is now I-110 through downtown to Airline Highway, then double back using the US 190 bridge and then LA 1 or a new corridor just west of there?

Also....I thought that 410 was also the number that was proposed for the Dixie Highway bypass of greater New Orleans? (Of which I-310 and I-510 were its offshoots.)

Something like that...
(Thought I had a better scan of the Baton Rouge inset, in the lower right corner)

la_rand_62

Found more info on the proposed original I-410 in BTR.

Apparently, it would have used what is now I-110 from its current downtown terminus to Airline Highway (US 61-190 Bypass), then turned west on an upgraded US 190 using the existing "Old" Mississippi River bridge to just west of LA 415, then turned back to the south to reconnect with I-10 west of Lobdell.

Basically, it would follow the western portion of what is now proposed as the Northern BTR Loop, but then double back down existing I-110 rather than continuing down Airline Hwy to Plank Road, then cutting northward and eastward north of Denham Springs and Walker as the North Loop is proposed to do.

When that was cancelled, they then decided to extend I-110 northward through Scotlandville to its current terminus in North BTR at Scenic Highway (US 61) near Mills Avenue, just north of the Southern University campus.

Source page for this (and also the proposed I-410 Dixie Highway in NOLA): 

https://www.interstate-guide.com/i-410-la/