GNOEC Safety Rails

Design Engineering, Inc. (DEI) played a crucial role in the second-largest project undertaken by the GNOEC in over two decades – a massive undertaking with a construction cost of over $40,000,000. We provided construction contract administration and CE&I services for this ambitious project.

The construction schedule was incredibly tight and required coordination of both day and night shifts with the GNOEC’s concurrent bridge widening project. Despite this challenge, we were able to maintain an active travel lane for the 19,000 commuters who cross the Causeway each direction during the week. Not only that, but we also had to coordinate construction operations with the causeway bascule bridge – the only corridor for major east to west marine traffic in Lake Pontchartrain.

The project involved raising the height of 48 miles of existing rails by installing a supplemental tubular steel rail on top of the existing concrete rails, reconstructing damaged concrete rails, and constructing new modern concrete barrier rails, among other ancillary work. The modified and new concrete rails were designed to improve the southbound Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge rail system’s ability to prevent errant vehicles from leaving the bridge roadway.