Completion of U.S. 90 bridge work pushed back to August

The region's biggest traffic headache appears destined to last even longer than expected.

A post on the Department of Transportation and Development website Thursday includes an update that says the completion of maintenance and rehabilitation work on the U.S. 90 bridge over the Atchafalaya is now due for completion in August. Earlier DOTD estimates said the completion was expected in June. Thursday's press release said completion was expected this month.

The department cited a shortage of paint as the reason for the latest delay in the completion estimate. Shortages of paint have been reported occasionally since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

The latest delay threatens to extend restricted traffic on the bridge into the peak of the hurricane season. With only one lane open in either direction, the bridge was a bottleneck for evacuees coming through Morgan City on their way back to parishes hit hard by Hurricane Ida.

The older La. 182 bridge makes a handy alternate, but a series of crashes, including trucks striking the maximum-height beams on either end of the old bridge, have occasionally jammed traffic.

Officials blocked access to the U.S. 90 bridge from Morgan City's Federal Avenue in September 2019, marking the start of the bridge project and the restricted traffic.

Seminole Equipment Inc. of Tarpon Springs, Florida, is doing the work on the $12 million project.