Speakers
Paul B. Fossier, Jr, PE, MASCE
Paul Fossier is currently serving as Assistant State Bridge Design Engineer for LA DOTD. He has 24 years experience with LA DOTD and 4 years as a consulting Engineer. He is a native of Baton Rouge and received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from LSU and a Masters in Civil Engineering from Tulane University. He is a currently a member of the AASHTO Bridge Subcommittee on Bridges and Structures and the AASHTO Technical Committee on Roadside Safety. He is currently serving as the DOTD project manager for the John James Audubon Mississippi River Bridge in St. Francisville. When completed in 2010, it will have the longest cable stayed span in the North and South America. He also recently served as project design manager for the emergency I-10 twin span repair project and was on the project design team for the I-10 twin span replacement project.
"I-10 Twin Span Rebuilding Project"
The existing 5.5 mile I-10 twin span bridge was severely damaged following Hurricane Katrina and resulted in closing the main transportation artery into the City of New Orleans. Hurricane storm surge caused 64 pre-stressed bridge spans to be displaced into Lake Pontchartrain, 475 spans to be moved out of alignments and over 14,000 feet of barrier railing to be severely damaged. Replacement of damaged bridge bearing pads, repair to cylinder piles, bent caps and barrier railing was also needed during the repairs.
The DOTD engineering team developed an accelerated bid package in only 8 days after the damage occurred and the project was immediately awarded to Boh Brothers Construction Company for $30.9 Million dollars. The first phase of the project to restore the eastbound bridge to traffic was completed in a record 28 days, 17 days ahead of schedule. The use of SPMTs or Self-Propelled Modular Transporters allowed the contractor to replace and realign the spans in an accelerated manner. Phase two of the contract to restore the westbound bridge was completed 8 days ahead of schedule based on a 120 day contract time. The use of Acrow modular steel bridge components was key to restoring the westbound bridge in an accelerated manner.