The state department of transportation has reopened the westbound lanes of Interstate 10 over the Atchafalaya Basin bridge after it was closed for a couple of days because of a fiery fatal chain-reaction crash that involved three chemical tanker trucks, two cargo trucks, and a passenger vehicle. DOTD spokesperson Rodney Mallett says the bridge underwent a thorough evaluation following the cleanup effort.
“DOTD went and inspected the bridge deck underneath the deck, to ensure the fire did not cause any cracks,” said Mallett.
Mallett says there are some spots on the concrete that are cracked or chipped, but it is nothing that renders the structure as unsafe.
“You can see some damage that needed to be repaired, but it’s probably something, unfortunately, that we see on roadway systems on a regular basis,” said Mallett.
Monday’s chain-reaction pileup killed a trucker from Florida and injured five others. An exact cause has not been determined, but Mallett says there’s a common cause for most of the wrecks on this stretch of highway.
“More than 70% of the crashes between Lafayette and Baton Rouge can be contributed to distracted driving, if we could knock down that, how many crashes could we avoid,” said Mallett.
