The Currie's: Huey P. Long Bridge

One of Mark's first projects with HNTB was the Huey P. Long Bridge Widening Project in New Orleans. It's a 2,300 foot railroad and highway bridge that crosses the Mississippi River. The project cost $1.2 billion and took seven years to complete. HNTB was the erection engineer and was tasked with widening the steel trusses at the top of the bridge. For three spans of the bridge, the trusses were built on barges on the side of the river and then lifted into place. Each truss was approximately the size of two football fields. Mark traveled to New Orleans weekly from the fall of 2009 to the spring of 2011 and worked on what is now known as the "Big Lifts."

The bridge was finally completed this year and the Louisiana Department of Transportation held a ribbon cutting ceremony this past Sunday. Mark and I flew down for the weekend to attend the ceremony with some of his coworkers. He had a great time reuniting with some of the contractors that he worked alongside for 18 months. After listening to them tell stories and reminisce, I have a much greater appreciation for what Mark does as an engineer. I am very proud of him!

I highly recommend a trip to New Orleans at least once. The culture is so rich and the houses are absolutely beautiful. Most of the homes are built pre-civil war and are full of southern charm. But (and this is a big but), one trip to New Orleans is enough to fulfill my curiosity for a lifetime. The city is extremely dirty and there are neighborhoods that have still not recovered from Hurricane Katrina. We spent most of Saturday shopping and touring Bourbon Street and the French Quarter. We ate at a restaurant called Jacques Imos Saturday night and it was amazing! It’s a whole-in-the-wall, but the food is “real Nawlin’ food” and comes highly recommended. I am not sure I will ever be able to eat seafood in the Midwest again!