Have You Seen This Thing They Built Next To The I-10 Bridge?

Lake Charles, LA [KNGT-FM] - It seems like each week something is changing around the I-10 bridge since they started construction. If you live in the Southwest Louisiana area, then you know tha construction on a new I-10 bridge is currently underway.

From the five to six cranes that now sit by the old bridge to road and land closures, to new construction in Westlake, progress is being made for sure.

Yesterday, I had to go to Sulphur for a meeting, and when I was driving back Eastbound on I-10 through Westlake, about to go over the bridge, something caught my eye. It was this huge silver metal truss-looking thing right on the side of the bridge.

What shocked me the most was, first, how big it was, and second, how close to the guardrails of the current bridge it was. I thought to myself, what the heck is that thing? I snapped a couple of pictures of it and asked folks on social media two questions.

First, have you seen this thing they built next to the I-10 bridge, and second, what the heck is it for? People started chiming in, explaining what they thought it was or knew what it was.

Get our free mobile app

Some of the comments I received said,

It's where they're rerouting the pipes
Those are new piperacks. That is what all of our cranes and transporters have been doing for the last 3 months.
The new pipe racks for Conoco

Interesting facts about the I-10 bridge in Lake Charles

The actual name of the I-10 bridge is the Louisiana Memorial World War II Bridge, which was named in June of 1951.

The bridge opened in 1952 for traffic

The ironwork with crossed guns on the railings is believed to be a reference to Jean Lafitte and the pirates who came to Lake Charles at one time.

Approximately 90,000 vehicles cross the I-10 Calcasieu River Bridge daily in Lake Charles, according to recent estimates.

Before the I-10 bridge was built, people traveling through the area took Highway 90, and to get into Lake Charles, you had to cross the Calcasieu River over a drawbridge, which was located by the Port of Lake Charles on Shell Beach Drive in Lake Charles.