A joint venture of Massman Construction, Traylor Brothers and IHI is the contractor for this phase of the project, being carried out under the TIMED (Transportation Infrastructure Model for Economic Development) programme in the US state of Louisiana.
It has taken over a year to prepare the bridge for the structural steel that will achieve the transformation. The steel for the bridge, which is composed of four spans, will be erected one span at a time, starting with the west bank anchor span . This 161m-wide span will be constructed using the 'stick-built' method, meaning each element of the span will be individually placed. Falsework is being used as a temporary support structure. In order to minimize the use of falsework and river closures, the three remaining spans will be done using the span-by-span method.
To carry out the span-by-span construction, large barges will transport a pre-assembled span section, position it under the bridge, and lift it into position using strand jacks. Temporary stability frames will be used to support the span section during the lifting process. The largest hoisted span will measure 161m and will weigh 2,758t.
