Berwick Bay bridge now expected to reopen in summer 2026

State crews are at work repairing the Bayou Ramos bridge, fixing damage inflicted by a barge strike four years ago.
But the reopening of the La. 182 bridge over Berwick Bay, originally set for this fall, has been pushed back. After a complete closure lasting more than two years, the structure formally known as the Long-Allen Bridge is now expected to reopen sometime next summer.
The estimated completion date for the Bayou Ramos work is now January 2026.
Long-Allen Bridge
The bridge, which was first opened in 1933, was closed for what was described as an extensive rehabilitation in May 2023. As recently as May, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development anticipated an autumn 2025 reopening.
“The reasoning behind the extended completion is due to the fact that working to rehab historical structures can often reveal additional work that needs to be done,” DOTD spokeswoman Diedra Druilhet said in an email.
“This is the case with the La. 182 bridge. Crews ran into additional work that needed to be done. This work was not part of the original scope of work, but it needed to be addressed.”
The La. 182 bridge has been undergoing a $25.9 million rehabilitation by Southern Road & Bridge LLC of Palm Harbor, Florida. The project includes steel repairs, cleaning, replacing two deck spans and providing a protective texture for the exposed concrete portions of the bridge.
The bridge was also painted, replacing the familiar rusty brown color with the same silver-gray paint that is now on the larger U.S. 90 bridge.
The older bridge, which has one lane in either direction, served as the only Berwick Bay crossing for three years beginning in 2019. The four-lane U.S. 90 bridge was closed for a $12 million maintenance project that was delayed by COVID, material shortages and repeated hurricane threats.
The U.S. 90 bridge reopened in 2022, only months before the La. 182 bridge was closed for its rehabilitation.
The old bridge’s closure put a crimp in what had become a source of monthly Saturday entertainment. On those Saturdays, the bridge was closed to motor vehicles and opened to bikers and walkers.
There are also hopes that the bridge will one day connect Berwick and Morgan City walking trails.
In 2021, when the new bridge was still closed, the La. 182 bridge carried nearly 13,000 vehicles a day, according to a state traffic count.
Bayou Ramos
The repairs on the La. 182 bridge at Bayou Ramos are expected to cost $1.7 million.
The work to fix damage caused by the barge strike has been delayed by the need to deal with the utilities that the bridge carries, Druilhet said.
Those utilities were the first warning sign when the bridge was hit two days before Christmas 2021.
The vessel Mollye D was pushing six hopper barges on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway in the early morning, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
As the captain tried to counter the 675-foot tow’s unexpected swing to the left, the lead barge hit the bridge. The captain said later that he didn’t realize the barge hit the bridge and didn’t report a strike.
But, the NTSB report said, water, gas and electrical lines on the bridge were ruptured, setting off alarms at utility companies.
Utility workers who responded to the alarms were the first to report the strike to the Coast Guard.
Since the strike, La. 182 traffic on the bridge has been limited to a single lane. A traffic light determines whether it’s the turn of westbound or eastbound traffic to cross.