I drove across $400 million...

...and its only halfway done.

Back story: Hurricane Katrina damaged two ~ 5 mile long bridges known as the "twin span" that cross Lake Pontchartrain between New Orleans and Slidell, LA. After Katrina the eastbound side was rebuilt with pieces from the westbound side so that one span would be as-was prehurricane. The gaps in the westbound side were then filled with temporary steel sections that have been a maintenance nightmare...broken bolts aren't a good thing especially on a bridge!
Source for photo below of damaged bridge: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/31/46698112_f5c5a1e9aa.jpg?v=0

Moving forward: As described on the state's official site (http://www.twinspanbridge.com/index.htm) "Construction of a new $800 million replacement bridge began in August 2006, one year to the day of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall...The new Twin Span Bridge will consist of two parallel structures adjacent to the current bridge. Each bridge will be wide enough to accommodate three travel lanes along with 12 foot shoulders on each side of the roadway...The first bridge, an eastbound structure, opened in July 2009. Final completion for the project is scheduled for 2011."

Below is a photo I took driving across the new bridge the day it opened. If you look closely you can see parts of all four bridges; original twin span to the left and other new span to the right. Though the eastbound direction is "open" it is not complete. You enter the bridge via the eastbound on-ramp then dogleg left to the future westbound side for about 4 miles then dogleg back to the eastbound off-ramp. The bridge also has a very noticeable right to left lean for drainage; a strange feeling until you get use to it.

This is a cool interactive graphic that compares old vs. new: http://www.nola.com/photos/t-p/index.ssf?/twinspans/newtwinspan.swf
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