Luling Bridge
This cable-stayed bridge carries Interstate 310 over the Mississippi River in St. Charles Parish near Luling, LA. The bridge cost $135 million and opened in 1983. The total length is 2,744 feet with 350-foot-tall pylons and a longest span of 1,235 feet. It was designed by Modjeski and Masters, Inc. and was the first high-level, long-span cable-stayed bridge built in the U.S. It is officially named the Hale Boggs Memorial Bridge after a former congressman who disappeared while flying in Alaska in 1972.
The prefabricated stays were coated in polyethylene sheathing that began cracking during installation and exposed the wires to corrosion. There was also water leakage and rusting in the anchorages, leading to cable replacement less than 30 years after the bridge's opening.