Worker dies on New Orleans bridge job

10/31/2008

Construction of the $803 million Interstate 10 Twin Span replacement bridges came to a screeching halt at 11:15 a.m. Oct. 30 when a 135-ft. concrete girder beam fell, killing one man and critically injuring another.

Ten men went into Lake Pontchartrain when the beam fell, the cause of which is undetermined at this time. “An accident investigation is underway to determine why the girder fell, says Vic Gremillion, safety director for Boh Bros. Construction of New Orleans, contractor. “Once our investigation is complete, we will release more information.”

The contractor would not release the name of the deceased or injured men, pending notification of their families.

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development released a statement saying “no work will proceed on this project until DOTD receives from the contractor a viable safety plan that demonstrates this will not happen again. Rest assured, the department will work quickly and efficiently with all parties in assessing the cause of this tragedy and to ensure it never happens again.”

“We don’t feel we have any choice but to take that action,” says Mark Lambert, communications director. “It’s not punitive. It’s simply a due diligence measure on our part. We can’t in good conscience put people at risk. Ten people went into the water – one critically injured and one dead – that’s not supposed to happen.”

The DOTD won’t allow work to proceed until they are sufficiently assured of a safe work environment and workers, and the public, aren’t at risk. “Today, we are just shocked,” Lambert says. “It’s a horrible thing.”

Boh Bros., whose company motto is “Safety Pays,” has a reputation as a family-oriented company. “Our deepest concern is for the families of the deceased and injured employees,” Gremillion says. “At Boh Bros., we treat our employees as family and we will continue this tradition.”

The DOTD included in its statement “condolences to the family of the deceased worker,” as well as “thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery to the injured workers.”

Boh Bros. holds a $379 million contract for the 4.5-mile low-rise portions of the bridge, which is a replacement for the east-west artery that was severely damaged in Hurricane Katrina. In addition to performing in record time the emergency repairs to the damaged bridges, Boh won the contract to open the westbound span of the new bridge by October 22, 2009 and the eastbound span by August 3, 2011.

Boh was racing to complete the westbound span early, by this December, and win a potential maximum early completion incentive of $4.5 million, or $15,000 per day for 300 days.

Fully funded by the Federal Highway Administration, the new bridges are designed to be more hurricane-resilient.  The bridges are 21 ft. higher than the old ones, feature shear keys, increased span length, and reinforced steel and concrete tie-ins between the decks and caps. The low-rise portion is 30 ft. from the bottom of the girders to the surface of the water. The high-rise portion of both bridges is a roughly one-mile, 80-ft. elevated section that will provide 200-ft. horizontal and 73-ft. vertical navigational channel clearance.

The joint venture of Traylor Bros. Inc. of Evansville, IN,  Kiewit Southern Company of Peachtree City, GA and Massman Construction Co. of Kansas City, MO holds the $166.6 million contract for the “hump” portion of the Twin Spans.

Volkert & Associates, Inc. of Alabama is performing Construction, Engineering & Inspection Services for the La. DOTD.

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