LA-70 OVER MISSISSIPPI RIVER (SUNSHINE BRIDGE)

The Sunshine Bridge, located in Donaldsonville, LA, is a steel truss bridge opened in 1964. The bridge includes a steel deck truss and five continuous main truss spans. The main truss is a five-span cantilever structure utilizing intermittent drop spans, covering a total length of 3,327 ft. and a width of 60 ft. The approach structure consists of a variety of steel beams and girder types in addition to a deck truss span consisting of 10 panels equally spaced at 34.3 ft. The substructure of the approach spans consists of steel bents.

The project scope included performing inspection, assessment, a detailed 3-D finite element analysis and load rating of the main truss, including gusset plates, deck truss, steel approach spans and substructure elements.