Deflection

Today, I drove from the southeast side of New Orleans to Grand Isle, Louisiana, and I swear that fifty percent of the highway was on bridges. That might be an over exaggeration, but it felt like during my trip was 125 miles. In New Orleans, a significant number of interstate miles are elevated above the city; most of I 310 is on bridges, since it is basically over swamp; and there is a significant amount of Louisiana 1 out to Grand Isle is on bridges. I tried to find out the number of miles of bridges that are in the state of Louisiana, but I could find no information on the internet. When I was in bridge management, I could make a simple calculation in a computer program to determine the number of miles of bridges, so I do not know why that number is so hard to fine. Texas, by the size of the state, has the most bridges. But there is more to Louisiana bridges.

In the interchanges, the bridges are high, but I am knot sure why. The grade on the ramps can be steep with a high superelevations and they can be posted at 35 mph that seems slow for an interstate highway. The high superelevations look out of place, but down here they do not have to worry about the vehicles sliding in a high superelevation covered with ice and/or snow.

Then there are at the bridges over the shipping channels, like the Mississippi River. When I went over the I 310 bridge today, my truck used the lower gears, since the grade is so high. Without measuring the height, it seems like the bridge was three feet above the water. With like a 11 mph wind and gust up to 17 mph, it was tricky diving on these bridges today.

As for a bridge maintenance engineer, it seems like they really do not have a job down here. Even after driving mile after mile, there was no bridge deterioration. Without using salt on the bridge deck for deicing, there really is no deterioration. But, with the miles of bridges, it would take a monster sized crew to design all of these bridges.

On the bridge out to Grand Isle, they had an issue with creep on the prestressed beams leading to humps in the decks. It was interesting watching the on coming vehicles flashing their head lights. Of course, the suspension in my truck got a workout.

It is interesting to determine the highway engineering in other states. Each state is different base on politics, geology, geography, and engineering practices. Since I parked my trailer about 500 feet from the Gulf of Mexico, I am just going to stay here for at least a week and enjoy my surrounds. Age does give us benefits, since I am staying here for week for less than $100. As I can remember when we spent like six months on the Gulf of Mexico when I was six years old. the wind does blow down here and my trailer is moving. It is welcoming me back.

Roger