About A Bridge: A Structure That Tells A Story

About A Bridge: A Structure That Tells A Story

This is the Lake Charles I-10 Bridge (I-10 Calcasieu River Bridge), or simple the I-10 Bridge as refered to by the locals of Lake Charles, Lousiana.  Growing up in Calcasieu Parish of Southwest Lousiana, I never really devoted much time to think about this bridge even though it is surely a local landmark due to it being one of the three tallest structures in the area (135 feet) until the building of L’Auberge du Lac Resort, the tallest building between Houston and Baton Rouge.  All I knew about the bridge was that it was big. The I-10 Bridge is located about where the Calcasieu River meets the lake that shares the name of the city, crossing the river to connect Lake Charles to Westlake, La.

The design of the bridge itself is reflective of the culture of the region where it stands.  The railing features crossed pistols that span its length.  Even though the reason for the crossed pistols is not universally agreed upon, many hold it to be true that it is a gesture to celebrate the legacy of pirates who frequented Southwest Louisiana waterways, the most famous being Jean Lafitte.  Legend says that Jean Lafitte buried some of his smuggled contraband in the area.  But, Jean Lafitte’s contraband did not only consist of material treasures, he also smuggled slaves into the state.

Mossville, Louisiana is a community founded by descendents of former slaves.  It lies in the densest area of the 10-mile radius of Calcasieu Parish that is home to over 50 industrial factories.  These industries are the major sources of air, soil, and water pollution/contamination in Mossville and surrounding areas (I’ll write about the environmental racism/classism plauging this region at a later date).  The chemical industry is such a big part of southwestern Louisiana culture, the I-10 bridge was built at its towering height to allow for passage of the giant ships to dock farther upriver to support the area’s many industries whose growth was sparked by the oil refining booms of last century.  Before the bridge was built, road traffic was stopped hundreds of times per month while large ships passed after a drawbridge had been raised.

The Lake Charles I-10 Bridge was built in 1952 under the governorship of Earl K. Long, brother of legendary former Louisiana governor and U.S. Senator Huey P. Long.  It was built as part of the Louisiana highway system, but was later taken over by the federal government and adopted into the Interstate Highway System.  At the time the federal government assumed control of the structure, they promised that it would be replaced at a later date.  That was about half a century ago, and since then, the I-10 Bridge has been designated ‘Structurally Deficient’ by the National Bridge Inventory (NBI), a database compiled by the Federal Highway Administration, a division of the United States Department of Transportation (DOT).


In 2009, the Louisiana DOTD released a statement proclaiming “the Interstate 10 bridge in Lake Charles is safe” despite receiving a Structural Evaluation rating of 3 by the NBI on a 0-9 scale.  A rating of 3 denotes a structure is “basically intolerable requiring high priority of corrective action.”  This designation does not barr traffic on the roadway, but speed and weight limits are put into place.  This should not put any of us at ease since the same rating was given to the I-35W Mississippi Bridge in Minneapolis, Mn that collapsed in 2007 during rush hour, killing 13 people.  This problem is not distinct to Lake Charles or Minneapolis.  There are over 72,000 bridges, or about 12 percent, in the United States that bear the same rating.  Also, even the railing that depicts Jean Lafitte’s guns, is said by the NBI to “not meet currently acceptable standards.”

Local NBC affiliate, KPLC, reported more than once that the bridge “is no stranger to accidents” and “has a long history of wrecks.”  The most notorious happened in 1981 when 3 people died (eight injured) in a 26-vehicle pileup after an 18-wheeler ruptured a fuel tank on a night in August.  Due to vibration caused by vehicles, the lights continue to break and fail and are seldom lit.  The four lane roadway is also extremely narrow, a mere total of approximately 52 feet.  With 50,000 vehicles using the roadway daily, often, vehicles stall in one of the two lanes in either direction making it very dangerous, especially for those in the stalled vehicle since exiting their vehicles put them either in a traffic lane or in a freefall.

There have been talks for years to have the existing I-10 Bridge replaced, but there are plenty of obstacles to overcome.  Of course, the questions are of an economic and industrial nature.  The pictures do not really capture how steep this bridge actually is.  Visiting in person and driving on the structure is the only way for one to get a feel as to how much of a climb is required to reach the summit.  It is typical to see a large truck significantly reduce its speed because of the slope of the climb.  So, there are calls for the new bridge to be significantly shorter.  Building a shorter bridge will cut off large ship traffic, at least to one major industrial player in the region.  A lower bridge will require that the larger ships dock farther downstream.  Another obstacle is the location of the new bridge.  If it is built in the same location, the existing structure would have to be torn down before the new one is even constructed.  Doing so would require that traffic be rerouted to the Interstate loop (I-210) on the other side of the city, spelling disaster for economic development along the Interstate 10 corridor and downtown.  The city is undergoing planning to revive its downtown and lakefront with the help of federal recovery aid money granted in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita, the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded, which made landfall in the shadow of Hurricane Katrina in September of 2005.  It is also possible to begin construction on a new bridge in another location, and one has been proposed.  But, as a result of the culture of industry, even that location draws concerns.

In 1994, there was a huge ethylene dichloride spill, “one of the largest in U.S. History– ranging from between 19 to 47 million pounds.”  Land in the vicinity of the bridge was contaminated.  A pipeline that ran from a Condea Vista chemical plant to a refinery owned by Conoco had unnoticeably leaked.  This is the spill that caused Beckett Brown International to come under scrutiny in 2008.  Condea Vista hired the firm to infiltrate and spy on community organizations consisting of residents from Mossville as well as other local citizens as part of their “Lake Charles Project”.  In late 2010, two years after the corporate spying incident unfolded, Greenpeace filed a lawsuit against SASOL, the company that now owns Condea Vista.  (For more on Spygate, click here and here).

The Condea Vista spill plays a part in the location of the new bridge, because the proposed location may still require cleaning, even after over 15 years.  An environmental review must be conducted before construction can begin.  The Louisiana DOTD will not fund the project until administrators can “see how the spill is migrating; to see where it is.”  The suggested review is expected to take a few years to conduct, so the residents of Calcasieu Parish are forced to take their chances with the current bridge.



But, if the existing bridge has to be torn down before a new one is constructed, and if the slope, narrowness, structural rating, etc. are too scary for many,  there is another bridge that can be used by motorists to cross the Calcasieu River.  It is called the I-210 Calcasieu River Bridge.  Even though it does not meet railing standards, it is rated a 7 on the Structural Evaluation scale.  It is 5 feet higher than the I-10 Bridge, features a sharp curve, and is just as scary.

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