JEFF MOORE, THE DAILY IBERIAN

New Iberia will not be getting a new bridge for Christmas, or New Year’s Day, for that matter, state Department of Transportation and Development officials said Friday.

The long-awaited Lewis Street bridge likely won’t be open for traffic before mid-January, said DOTD district engineer Bill Fontenot.

Traffic goes over the old Lewis Street Bridge while the new Lewis Street Bridge waits to be opened LEE BALL/THE DAILY IBERIAN Advertisement

And the opening could stretch into February if testing of the bridge takes longer than expected.

“We wish it were better news, but that’s where we stand right now,” said DOTD spokesman Mark Lambert. “Obviously, we’d rather get this thing open sooner, but we’re not going to open it until it’s safe.”

Fontenot said contractors have run into problems with an electrical motor used in the raising and lowering of the vertical lift-span bridge.

Fontenot said the previous motor did not meet the standards required for the project, so contractors had to order a new one.

Fontenot said the new motor must be custom-made, a process that will take about a month.

He said the new motor should arrive by the second week of January.

In the meantime, Fontenot said, contractors have ordered a second, temporary motor, which should arrive on Wednesday.

That motor could allow workers to resume testing while they are waiting for the permanent replacement, which could save some time in the process.

“If everything would go perfect, and we reach a comfort level with those temporary motors, it would be a matter of just switching out the motors when the permanent ones come in,” Fontenot said.

The motor problems are just the latest setback in the construction of the bridge, which began in March 2004.

The $13.8 million bridge was originally expected to be open by September 2006, but the project was put on hold when workers were sent to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The DOTD recently set an expected date of completion of Dec. 7, but that date came and went after workers encountered problems with an electrical cable that supplies power to the bridge.

Then, during the testing of the cable, workers discovered problems with the motor, Fontenot said.

“It’s just been one thing after another,” Lambert said. “It seems like if something could go wrong, it did go wrong on this project.”

Lambert said many of the problems were beyond the control of the DOTD or the New Orleans-based contractor for the project, Boh Brothers Construction. He declined to say whether the company would face any penalties for the delays.

“Our focus right now isn’t trying to penalize anybody,” he said. “Our focus is trying to get that thing open as soon as possible.”