As the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over New Orleans during the morning of Aug. 29, officials had closed all major routes, including the 32-mile causeway and the twin spans of Interstate 10 across Lake Ponchartrain, says a Louisiana Dept. of Transportation and Development. Reports of 4-ft-high flooding on U.S. 90 and 3 ft of flooding in some canals were expected, says Mark Lambert, LADOTD spokesman, speaking by cell phone and without electricity. "The storm is at this moment getting closer," he said at about 10:30 a.m. "It's very hard to assess anything right now."
While most of the highways are built to withstand major hurricanes, the possibility of flying debris causing damage is a big concern, and several old moveable bridges may be at risk, he adds. The biggest transportation item of concern right now is an old nine-mile connector of LA 1 to Port Fourchon. The connector carries 18% of the nation's oil and gas supply. Moreover, the connector links to Grand Isle's Barrier Island, which is inhabited. "We are almost certain that the whole connector may be underwater," says Lambert. Ironically, the LADOTD was in the middle of conducting a report to investigate why two bids this July to replaceand elevatethe connector came in $100 million over engineers' estimate of $154 million (ENR 7/18, p. 13). The new connector would be 22.5 ft high.