Photo du Jour: I-10/Pascagoula River

East bound and down, loaded up and truckin' . . .

The I-10 bridge between Gautier and Escatawpa over the Pascagoula River suffered limited damage not nearly severe as the I-10 Twin Span across Lake Pontchartrain or the US 90 bridges over Bay St. Louis and Back Bay. A few sections of the eastbound bridge collapsed not from the surge like the other bridges, but because of getting struck by a loose barge during the storm. The damaged sections of the bridge have been repaired and all four lanes moved without delay. Towards the eastern end of the bridge a shrimp boat still remains grounded in the marsh near the Pascagoula River as seen above. Further east, the I-10 bridges across Escambia Bay in Pensacola remain impaired from the damages sustained during Crazy Ivan over a year and a half ago. Traffic stretched about two miles from the one-laned eastbound bridge (the westbound bridge has both lanes open) as the bridges were approached during evening rush hour. The construction of two new bridges to the south of the existing bridges are underway but are a long, long way from being anywhere near completed. The destruction of the original bridges from Ivan two summers ago foreshadowed what would happen to other similar I-10 bridges across the inland lakes and bays of the region.