Photo du Jour: The I-10 Twin Span

Headed over to "the cooooooooooooast"--as a friend of mine calls the Mississippi Gulf Coast in a slow Mississippi drawl--yesterday. The I-10 Twin Span Bridges between New Orleans East/Irish Bayou and Slidell of course were damaged from the storm surge. The normally-eastbound bridge was repaired in about a month after KTMB and is open with one lane in each direction. Notice the metal work to the left--thats work going on to the westbound bridge by Boh Brothers Construction. At the time of day I went across the bridge towards Slidell the traffic moved at a good clip at about 45 mph or so. Going back towards New Orleans in the early evening the Slidell-bound traffic was backed up about a mile or so from the base of the bridge, while the New Orleans-bound lane moved without delay. That castle at Irish Bayou still stands--but it appears to have sustained significant damage. New Orleans East looks really bad--although I was glad to see a fair amount of overhead street lights on the surface streets lit up from I-10 upon my return. The Home Depot there is open and a bunch of the car dealerships in "The East" are now open as well.