Judge Perez Bridge | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 29°52′18.7″N90°0′32.0″W / 29.871861°N 90.008889°W |
Carries | 2 lanes of LA 23 North |
Crosses | Gulf Intracoastal Waterway |
Locale | Belle Chasse and Terrytown, Louisiana |
Maintained by | LaDOTD |
Characteristics | |
Total length | 2,654 feet |
Longest span | 150 feet |
Clearance above | 100 feet (open), 40 feet (closed) |
History | |
Opened | September 10, 1968 |
Location | |
The Judge Perez Bridge, also known as the Belle Chasse Bridge, is a vertical-lift bridge in the U.S. state of Louisiana which carries northbound Louisiana Highway 23 over the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway between Belle Chasse and Terrytown. The bridge is paired with the Belle Chasse Tunnel which carries southbound LA 23. Construction began in March 1967, and the bridge opened for traffic in September 1968. It has been plagued with mechanical issues since it opened. Commuters have had to back down off the bridge due to a malfunction.
The bridge was built to relieve traffic from the Belle Chasse Tunnel. It is named after Leander Perez, a local political boss and segregationist. It was part of a parish project of four-laning Highway 23 throughout the road's entire length to Venice. According to the Plaquemines Gazette, the $3.3 million structure was built by Plaquemines Parish using its Parish Royalty Road Fund without charge to local taxpayers. Boh Brothers worked on its construction. [1]
There have been plans for replacing the tunnel and lift bridge with new and improved high-rise structures, and construction has since started to build a bridge that will replace them.
Plaquemines Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 23,515 at the 2020 census, the parish seat is Pointe à la Hache and the largest community is Belle Chasse. The parish was formed in 1807.
The Wey and Arun Canal is a partially open, 23-mile-long (37 km) canal in the southeast of England. It runs southwards from the River Wey at Gunsmouth in Shalford, Surrey to the River Arun at Pallingham, in West Sussex. The canal comprises parts of two separate undertakings – the northern part of the Arun Navigation, opened in 1787 between Pallingham and Newbridge Wharf, and the Wey and Arun Junction Canal, opened in 1816, which connected the Arun at Newbridge to the Godalming Navigation near Shalford, south of Guildford. The Arun Navigation was built with three locks and one turf-sided flood lock. The Junction Canal was built with 23 locks
State Road 202 (SR 202) is a 13.042-mile-long (20.989 km) state highway that extends from U.S. Route 1, in Jacksonville, Florida to SR A1A, in Jacksonville Beach, near the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Ponte Vedra Beach, and includes a bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway. To locals, the road is better known as J. Turner Butler Boulevard, Butler Boulevard, or JTB. Despite being named as a boulevard, the road is a completely limited-access expressway, with the exception of the westernmost 0.5 miles between US 1 and Interstate 95 (I-95),. It was constructed in sections by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority. The first section opened in 1979, but the entire road was not completed until 1997.
The Industrial Canal is a 5.5-mile (8.9 km) waterway in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The waterway's proper name, as used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and on NOAA nautical charts, is Inner Harbor Navigation Canal (IHNC). The more common "Industrial Canal" name is used locally, both by commercial mariners and by landside residents.
U.S. Highway 90 Business is a business route of U.S. Highway 90 located in and near New Orleans, Louisiana. It runs 14.25 miles (22.93 km) in a general east–west direction from US 90 in Avondale to a junction with Interstate 10 (I-10) and US 90 in the New Orleans Central Business District.
Louisiana Highway 23 is a north–south state highway in Louisiana that serves Plaquemines and Jefferson Parishes. It spans 74.0 miles (119.1 km) in roughly a southeast to northwest direction. It is known locally as Belle Chasse Highway and Lafayette Street.
Louisiana Highway 82 (LA 82) is a state highway located in southern Louisiana. It runs 142.87 miles (229.93 km) in a general east–west direction from the Texas state line east of Port Arthur to the Vermilion–Lafayette parish line southwest of Youngsville.
Louisiana Highway 45 (LA 45) is a state highway located in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. It runs 22.08 miles (35.53 km) in a north–south direction from a dead end at Bayou Barataria in Lafitte to a junction with LA 18 in Marrero.
Louisiana Highway 14 (LA 14) is a state highway located in southern Louisiana. It runs 100.10 miles (161.10 km) in an east–west direction from the junction of U.S. Highways 90 and 171 in Lake Charles to LA 182 in New Iberia.
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A table bridge is one of the types of moveable bridge in which the deck moves vertically. Two or four hydraulic pillars under the bridge, one or two at each end, raise the bridge deck to allow boat traffic to pass beneath it. In contrast to a lift bridge, where the deck is pulled upwards along towers, the deck of a table bridge is pushed upwards by otherwise hidden pillars. The name originates from the fact that when open it resembles a table.
The Belle Chasse–Scarsdale Ferry is a ferry across the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana, connecting Belle Chasse and Scarsdale and is maintained by Plaquemines Parish. It carries a $1 toll for 2-axle vehicles, $2 for vehicles with at least 3 axles, and $.50 for motorcycles. The eastbank ferry leaves every 15 and 45 minutes on the hour between 5:15 AM and 10:15 PM; the westbank ferry leaves on the top and bottom of every hour between 5:00 AM and 10:00 PM.
The Belle Chasse Tunnel was built starting in March 1954 to accommodate the new branch of the Intracoastal Canal. After nearly two years of construction, the $2,436,000 structure opened in February 1956 with the Canal beginning operations later that year. The politicians in Plaquemines Parish chose to construct a tunnel as opposed to a drawbridge as to enable continuous flow of traffic. According to engineers and various 1956 issues of the Plaquemines Gazette, the tunnel was the first fully automatic underwater tunnel in the world as it did not require any operating personnel. The tunnel had ventilation machinery that automatically change the tunnel's air every two minutes with automatic generators taking over if the machinery fails.
Louisiana Highway 75 (LA 75) is a state highway located in southeastern Louisiana. It runs 46.86 miles (75.41 km) in a general east–west direction from a dead end in Bayou Pigeon to the junction of LA 22 and LA 942 in Darrow.
Louisiana Highway 3134 is a state highway in Louisiana that serves Jefferson Parish. It spans 7.2 miles (11.6 km) in a north-south direction along Leo Kerner/Lafitte Parkway between Jean Lafitte and Estelle and acts as a four-lane bypass to the older Barataria Boulevard.
Louisiana Highway 387 was a state highway that served Plaquemines Parish. It spanned 2.5 miles (4.0 km) in a south to north direction along the west bank of the Mississippi River in Belle Chasse.