A 2,648-ton truss was lifted 135 ft and attached to the Huey P. Long Bridge over the Mississippi River in New Orleans over 40 hours on Nov. 20-21. The lift of the 503-ft bridge segment, the second in a three-part series, is part of the $452.6-million superstructure erection portion of the $1.2-billion span widening. MTI—a joint venture of Massman Construction Co., Kansas City; Traylor Bros. Inc., Evansville, Ind.; Kansas City-based design firm HNTB and IHI Inc., a New York City-based unit of a Japanese industrial firm—completed the lift and opened the bridge and river to traffic ahead of the 48-hour schedule. The bridge is one of 16 infrastructure projects funded by the state’s bond-supported Transportation Infrastructure Model for Economic Development program, enacted in 1989 and accelerated in 2002. The next truss lift is scheduled for April 2011; the previous one was completed in June. The bridge, opened in 1935, is one of the longest railroad spans in the U.S.