A seasonal rise in the Mississippi River forced the Spillway Road in the Bonnet Carre Spillway to close on May 13, and the parish has no set date on when the road will be reopened.
Last week, the road was completely covered with 2.5 to 3 feet of water, and the parish had to place gavel stone on the north side of the culverts to protect against erosion. And though the water level began to fall after May 30 due to the crest of the Mississippi, that doesn’t mean the parish will reopen the road after the water disappears.
“We do not have a timeline as to when the road will reopen after the water recedes,” Parish spokeswoman Renee Simpson said. “The parish will not reopen it right away. There will need to be some time for inspections and also time for the area to dry completely, but public works couldn’t say how long that might take.”
Being closed is nothing new for Spillway Road, which has been in that state for most of the past year.
The road was damaged extensively after the opening of the spillway in April, and repairs were pushed back because of a second rise in river levels after the flooding that took place in Iowa in August.
In September, Gustav and Ike delayed the repairs even more. The road was finally reopened in October.
One of the reasons that the parish is hesitant to open the road right after the water recedes is because of the price tag of the recent repairs. The lowest bid for the project was for $489,700, and the parish received $250,000 in funding from the state’s Department of Transportation and Development, but had to pay the difference.
The Army Corps of Engineers did help out by making a substantial contribution of 72 box culverts and limestone for use in the road’s repair.
Be the first to comment