Polk St. Bridge Open

Polk St. Bridge opened 19 days ahead of time.

The bridge two 14ft – 6inch travel lanes, which began construction August 26, 2019, was completed today February 18, 2020, and the ribbon cutting was held at 9 a.m. The engineer was Milford and Associates, and the contractor was Baker Pile Driving and Site work.

“It’s a 185 day contract and we finished it in what, 166 days,” said Dove.

The contract is not quite finished yet, but the bridge is complete.

Dove pointed to the nearby lift station and said that redoing the “aesthetics” of it is part of the contract, but the bridge was prioritized over it. “So they still have that to finish, but we wanted them to finish this so they could get the traffic running again,” said Dove.

As Dove spoke, he walked across the newly constructed bridge to a nearby home to have coffee with some residents. As he walked, passerbys rolled down their window to cheer him on.

“The bridge is finished. The bridge is finished,” said one driver.

There are 26 bridges being rebuilt in Terrebonne and the Polk bridge marks the third such to be completed. Industrial Road Bridge will be the next to be worked on. Dove said it should be going out to bid soon.

The 26 bridges have to be rebuilt because they became condemned. Previously concrete bridges in the area were built with concrete decks, explained Dove, and the creosote piles which supported them rot. The Polk bridge has been constructed with concrete pilings – 50ft and 75ft long reinforced precast concrete piles to be exact.

“In other words, it’s concrete pilings,” said Gordon Dove, Parish President. “What they had here before were wood pilings that rotted.”

The two nearest homeowners on each side of the bridge were accommodating to the construction, said Dove. He said he wanted to thank them, because the cranes had to swing the pilings over the owner’s yards to get them to the site.