I just read in another thread that in Louisiana, the new Audubon Bridge over the Mississippi River connecting St. Francisville to New Roads will be opening soon due to the flooding out of the existing ferry service. There will still be lane closures possible since the bridge is still not completely finished.
I got to thinking, does anybody recall any other situations where a newly constructed road or bridge was prematurely opened to traffic due to public safety or other extraordinary reasons, and had to be finished up while traffic was present?
Now I'm sure that LaDOTD has probably performed inspections throughout the construction process, and has performed an inspection prior to making the decision to open early that confirms that the bridge is now up to standards for regular traffic usage. LA has a high dependency on bridges and takes them seriously.