Monday, November 6, 2017

1935 NOPBR Huey P Long Bridge (NO) over the Mississippi near New Orleans, LA

(Bridge Hunter, Historic Bridges has yet to visit Louisiana, John A Weeks III, 3D Satellite)

NOPBR is the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad.

There is a second Huey P Long Bridge near Baton Rouge.

Opened in 1935, widened between 2008 and 2013.

Dunncon13 has released the photo into the public domain
The Huey P. Long Bridge, just west of New Orleans, Louisiana. Photo was taken from the eastbound Amtrak Sunset Limited on November 11, 2007, as the train started over the bridge.
Mark Hinsdale was on "a UP Inspection Train operated for those of us working on a New Orleans Infrastructure Upgrade project." He took several photos as the train crossed the bridge.

Bridges Now and Then posted
NEW ORLEANS (March 5, 2007) — Pre-Commissioning Unit New Orleans (LPD-18) leaves Avondale Shipyard and transits underneath the Huey P. Long Bridge on the Mississippi River toward her commissioning site in New Orleans. The ship was commissioned in a ceremony March 10, 2007. (United States Navy, Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Shawn Graham)
Debbie Goodloe posted
This bridge was soooo narrow to drive a semi across...huey p long bridge in New Orleans.

Mark Hinsdale posted
Mark Hinsdale posted
Mark Hinsdale posted
 This photo was later used in power point and printed presentation booklets about the project.
Mark Hinsdale posted
Update:
Norfolk Southern Corp posted
NS train 198 crosses the Huey P. Long Bridge, which is owned and operated by the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad. Having originated at Union Pacific Railroad's Avondale Yard, this train heads north towards Meridian, Miss., and Birmingham, Ala.
James Dunn posted
Huey Long Bridge Jefferson La
James commented on his own post
James Dunn Its a major transfer point for freight going east and west. Up and BNSF transfer freight to CSX and Norfolk Southern and vice versa.Plus New Orleans Public Belt railroad. Finished in 1933 so been upgraded a few times.
James Dunn Double track right in to the UP and BNSF yards.

One of five photos posted by Randy Ahrens
Crossing the Huey P. Long bridge in New Orleans. Bridge is 4.5 miles long and 135 feet above the Mississippi River.
badge icon
East Bridge Signal Maintainer. One of the few who could repair the old lever bed .. (no longer in service)
 
I Love Trains posted
Big Boy #4014 on the Huey P. Long Bridge in New Orleans.
Watch: https://trainfanatics.com/big-boy-4014-taking-it-slow/ (YouTube)

Bobby Fischer posted
3/6/19. Coming north off the Huey P Long bridge in New Orleans, La. I didn’t have a choice of which side if the bridge to be on and ended up on the shady side so I had to do some editing. I’m just glad I got something up there since I don’t know when or if I’ll be back there.
Robert Kjelland posted
U.S. railroads have built some mighty big bridges to span equally big rivers. Many of these bridges, such as in Cincinnati, have incredibly long trestles to raise the grade. One "super bridge" of note is the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City, the other is the Huey P. Long Bridge in New Orleans as shown here. Notice the train in the foreground descending the trestle. It's a view best taken in from a good 10,000 feet.

Stevie Know commented on a post
Huey P Long bridge:
[I'm guessing it is this one and not the Baton Rouge one. Or does it not matter because the both look the same?]
 
Bill Neill shared
SP No. 2 - HUEY P. LONG BRIDGE circa 1954 - SP image
In this Southern Pacific publicity photo from the early 1950's, a pair of Alco PA1 units lead the eastbound SUNSET through the West High Curve on the Huey P. Long Bridge. The train would have been about 20 minutes away from its 4:00 P.M. arrival in New Orleans. Because of the position of the bridge, the eastbound train was heading west into the afternoon sun! The 13-car train included a railway post office-express car, a baggage-dormitory car, a 48-seat divided coach, a 44-seat coach, a Pride of Texas coffee shop-tavern-lounge car, two more 44-seat coaches, two 10-roomette/6-double-bedroom sleepers, an Audubon Dining Room car, a French Quarter Lounge car, and two more 10-6 sleepers.

Another SP publicity photo with Alco PAs  This one shows the bridge itself.

Massman's project web page contains two photos with the comment:
The US 90 Huey P. Long Bridge is one of 3 vital Mississippi River crossings in the New Orleans area. The combination railroad and highway bridge, 2400 feet main span, was completed in 1935, and carries two lanes of traffic each direction. The state of Louisiana, under the TIMED program, determined the optimum method to increase highway capacity was to replace the existing lanes and widen the bridge to 3 lanes each way. This unique substructure work included widening the 5 main span piers.  

The widening was accomplished by installing concrete encasement of the original bridge piers up to Elev. 90 feet MSL, and structural steel frames to Elev. 145 feet. The original bridge piers, founded on dredged caissons, have sufficient capacity and size to carry the additional traffic lanes and loads. The new structural concrete started at Elev. (-)6 feet MSL, below normal river stages of Elev. 4 to 10 feet MSL, and was installed by the use of limpet cofferdams attached to the existing piers. 
The project’s location and scope presented several challenges to the Massman team.  Crane barge access in the main river channel required constant coordination with Mississippi River shipping and barge operators. The river depths approached 90 feet which required substantial anchoring of crane barges. Work was suspended for several extended periods due to river flood stages and tropical storms. The river currents, and swift eddies near the piers, required divers and marine equipment to operate safely. 
The concrete encasement, for a total of 17,000 cubic yards, included drilling for 16,000 anchors to the existing piers, and lateral post-tensioning. The structural steel frames required 20 critical crane barge lifts of 150 to 200 tons. The 4500 tons of structural steel fabrication required special procedures due to the precise fit up of heavy sections, and fracture critical welding requirements. The structural steel was fabricated, pre-assembled, and shipped by barge to the jobsite.
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Massman's project web page contains two photos with the comment:
The LADOTD TIMED program selected a Massman Construction Co. joint venture to construct the $434 million project to replace the east and west approach structures and construct three traffic lanes on both sides of the existing Huey P. Long Bridge, also known as route 90, over the Mississippi River. Construction of foundations and bridge piers near the Mississippi River levees requires a highly coordinated effort with USACE and local area levee districts.
This project will add an additional lane in each direction along with 8-ft. emergency shoulders. The main bridge structure for vehicular traffic includes the 4,700-ft.-long east approach, the 2,400-ft.-long main span river crossing, the 5,600-ft.-long west approach, as well as associated ramp work at both ends. The approach structures consists of 200 pile supported concrete piers with precast girders and cast-in-place deck, with the high rise portion supported by a four-span widened structural steel truss about 150-ft. above the river.
Temporary retaining structures for construction of the pier foundations were designed to assure no movement or soil sloughing from around the existing bridge piers. Most of the pier footings were built inside TRS below the water level and required extensive dewatering. Access was extremely tight as work was to be performed in a narrow row between an existing bridge and a residential neighborhood. The work area overlaps with the river spans superstructure widening contract and includes completing the roadway deck over river truss spans. 
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Massman's project web page contains three photos with the comment:
The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development's Huey P. Long U.S. 90 Bridge over the Mississippi River is a key infrastructure component of the New Orleans and Louisiana economies, with 50,000 vehicles daily, along with passenger and freight train usage. Completed in 1935, the steel truss bridge supports 2 railroad tracks, and 4 narrow 9-foot wide traffic lanes.
This Massman-led joint venture project added trusses on each side and replaced the existing traffic lanes with 3 widened lanes and shoulders. The main span is 2,375 feet long in 4 spans. The widening scope included over 17,000 tons of structural steel, and extensive retrofitting of the existing trusses to accept connections to the new trusses.
Extensive work procedures were also employed at the road deck level to maintain the normal 4 lanes of traffic and rail usage as much as possible. The retrofitting and connection work on the existing trusses was performed from fixed work platforms, and also moving platforms over the traffic lanes.
Below is a video of the Huey P. Long bridge project truss lift.
Project Awards:
2013 Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) Alliant Build America Grand Award - Highway and Transportation Renovation
2012 Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Blue Pencil and Gold Screen Award
2012 Construction Innovation Forum (CIF) Nova Award
2012 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) National Historic Landmark Award 
2010 Public Relations of Society of America (PRSA) New Orleans Chapter Award of Excellence for PR Strategy - Special Event
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River Rail Photo posted
The Bridge In Bridge City. Union Pacific Railroad 4014 (4-8-8-4, Alco) made for quite a sight as it crossed the Huey P. Long Bridge into Bridge City, Louisiana on the morning of Sunday, August 22, 2021. On board, those who bought tickets for the Union Pacific Museum Special will travel from New Orleans to Plaquemine, Louisiana on a sold out excursion. While the roads are usually pretty empty this early on Sundays, something seems to have caused a bit of a traffic jam today.
Jeff Butler: When watching the video on the bridge crossing, it looked like the speed was down to about 10 MPH I assume a safety precaution.

River Rail Photo posted
Big Boy And The Big Easy. On the afternoon of Friday, August 20, 2021, Union Pacific Railroad's 4-8-8-4 4014 (Big Boy) crossed the Mississippi River over Huey P. Long Bridge with the city of New Orleans in the background. This is the largest operating steam engine in the world, and is touring the UP's system to show its 2013-2019 restoration to crowds in communities across the United States.

This is a vivid reminder that the railroad approaches to the Huey Long bridges had to be really long to allow the tracks to get high enough for ship clearance without an excessive grade.
safe_image for The Railroad Nation
Mission Accomplished! I was able to get the shot that I drove so far to get: The World's Largest Steam Locomotive Crossing the Huey P. Long Bridge. -Dylan Jones 8/20/21

Another view of the long approaches needed to get freight trains above the ocean going ships.
William Davis posted
2/2017; UP Westbound Freight Train passes over the Huey P. Long combination highway & railroad bridge in Bridge City, LA.

Eric Domboski posted three photos with the comment: "While doing some flatbed trucking in Louisiana back in 2008, shots I snapped as I was driving the 18-wheeler across the mighty Mississippi on the Huey P. Long Bridge. It, too, is an engineering marvel, built in 1935."
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Frank Keller Photography posted
CSX rolling off the Huey Long Bridge at East Bridge Tower in New Orleans. Oct 2002.

The Traveling Gandy Dancer commented on Frank's post
Never had a chance to railfan from the ground at the tower, although I've gone past it on the rails. What a great shot!
[Satellite, he must have been on the track that is south of the tower. He is leaving the yard and US-90 is in the background.]


A scene before the bridge was built.
safe_image for pinterest

The steel was fabricated by Industrial Steel Construction.
ISC-Huey-long
"Located in New Orleans, LA, The Huey P. Long Bridge is a cantilever truss bridge that spans the Mississippi River.  This was a widening project designed by Modjeski and Masters for the already existing rail and highway traffic bridge, in which the existing two 9-foot traffic lanes were increased to three 11-foot traffic lanes with 2-feet of inside shoulder and 8 feet of outside shoulder. The bridge spans the river for a total of 2,380 feet and added an additional 22,000 tons of steel to the existing bridge.  To date, it is one of the largest construction projects ever completed in Louisiana’s history."

I Love Trains posted
Easy does it for Big Boy #4014 on the Huey P Long Bridge in LA. click link to view video:  https://trainfanatics.com/big-boy-4014-taking-it-slow/
[Or you can skip TrainFanatics ads and go to the YouTube video.
I presume it is a drone video. I'm glad he recorded audio and added it to the video.]

Bridges Now and Then posted
"Huey P. Long Bridge, Main River Bridge, Pier D Complete, April 30, 1934". (Library of Congress)

This is a new view.
Jon Talton posted
A heavyweight Southern Pacific Railroad Sunset Limited is westbound out of New Orleans across the Huey Long Bridge in 1940. It's on the way to Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Phoenix, and Los Angeles (photographer unknown).
Jon Talton posted with the same comment
Carlos Fernandez-Gray: I believe this train actually ran all the way through to San Francisco, until 1942.


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