USA — Louisiana Guard Builds Bridge for Oil Spill Effort

NEW ORLEANS, May 7, 2010 — The Louisiana Nation­al Guard’s 205th Engi­neer Bat­tal­ion built an improved rib­bon bridge in St. Bernard Parish yes­ter­day to be used in sup­port of oper­a­tions relat­ed to the oil spill off the state’s coast.

Army Maj. James S. Slaven of the Louisiana Nation­al Guard’s 205th Engi­neer Bat­tal­ion inspects a 300-foot improved rib­bon bridge built by the 2225th Mul­ti-Role Bridge Com­pa­ny out of Mar­rero, La., at the Frank Cam­po Mari­na in Shell Beach, La., May 6, 2010. U.S. Army pho­to by Sgt. Michael L. Owens Click to enlarge

The Louisiana Nation­al Guard’s 2225th Mul­ti-Role Bridge Com­pa­ny, out of Mar­rero, La., con­structs a 300-foot improved rib­bon bridge at the Frank Cam­po Mari­na in Shell Beach, La., May 6, 2010. U.S. Army pho­to by Sgt. Michael L. Owens Click to enlarge

About 50 mem­bers of the 2225th Mul­ti-Role Bridge Com­pa­ny, based in Mar­rero, La., built the 300-foot tem­po­rary wharf near the Frank “Black­ie” Cam­po Mari­na in Shell Beach, La., so that oil booms can be picked up and dis­trib­uted to fish­er­men who are work­ing in sup­port of the mission. 

“Our main job is to con­struct the bridge so that the process of dis­tri­b­u­tion becomes eas­i­er for all involved,” said Army Maj. James S. Slaven, exec­u­tive offi­cer of the 205th. 

After trans­port­ing their boats and equip­ment to the Cam­po Mari­na in two sep­a­rate con­voys, the Guards­men staged and account­ed for all pieces. They loaded the boats into the bay, and one by one, each bridge sec­tion was dropped into the water and trans­port­ed into the open bay for construction. 

“Because we need ade­quate space to put it togeth­er, we have to move each sec­tion about 500 feet into the open bay,” Slaven explained. 

“It seems like a tedious process, but once we get start­ed, it rolls eas­i­ly and quick­ly,” said Army 1st Sgt. Kevin P. Giroir, senior enlist­ed advi­sor for the 2225th. Once the sec­tions were trans­port­ed to the work­ing area, a crew con­nect­ed each com­po­nent until the whole bridge was completed. 

“They worked dili­gent­ly to get this com­plete,” Slaven said. “We were orig­i­nal­ly expect­ing to be here until 10 p.m., but they com­plet­ed the mis­sion by 5 p.m.”

As a last order of busi­ness, Slaven inspect­ed the bridge and gave it a final “thumbs-up” after the work met and sur­passed stan­dards. A team of about 10 Guards­men will be onsite dai­ly to main­tain the bridge. 

“I am real­ly proud of each of these sol­diers,” Slaven said. “They worked real­ly hard today to help Louisiana, and I want them to know that I appre­ci­ate their efforts.” 

Source:
Louisiana Nation­al Guard