Hale Boggs Bridge will close this weekend

Southbound lanes will remain closed until Tuesday

The Hale Boggs Bridge will close completely this weekend, beginning on Friday, June 8 at 7 p.m., according to the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.

Reopenings will be staggered with the northbound lanes reopening by noon on Sunday, June 10, and the southbound lanes reopening by 5 a.m. on Tuesday, June 12.

The full closure is needed to remove a large piece of equipment from the top of the bridge pier on the West Bank side. While this work is taking place, the expansion joint in the southbound lanes will be removed and replaced. Once the work to remove the equipment from the pier is complete, the northbound lanes will reopen leaving only the southbound lanes closed for the completion of the expansion joint work.

"These two major items of work are being accomplished together to limit the number of bridge closures motorists would have to endure," Bambi Hall, spokeswoman for the DOTD said.

The cable replacement project began in 2009 with an estimated end date of February 2011.

However, because of delays the project will not be complete until this fall.

Replacement of the cables was called for in 2007 after the Federal Highway Commission rated the bridge a 3 out of a possible 9 due to the effects of weather on the cables.

Each of the 72 cables is being replaced one at a time because the job involves installing a replacement cable next to an existing cable, applying tension and then removing the old cable. The current cables had a lifespan of 25 years, which they lived up to, and the new cables are designed to last 50 years.

Motorists may detour via the Huey P. Long Bridge (US 90) or the Mississippi River Bridge in Gramercy (LA 3213). In order to accommodate the additional traffic, there are no lane closures scheduled on the Huey P. Long Bridge this weekend.

However, on Monday, June 11, motorists may experience heavy delays, for most of the day, on the Huey P. Long due to the extra traffic that will be detoured from the Hale Boggs Bridge.