low bid doesn't mean low quality all the time. Most government projects that I have seen here are overdesigned. As for the levee system in Mew Orleans, warnings have been posted for years that they would not handle a storm surge like Katrina. This should have been a local issue but people want the Federal government to bail them out.

Another railroad, Norfolk Southern already completed their repairs on their longer bridge over bay St Louis. An effor made easier due in part to a better bridge design and construction. Regardless I am pretty sure that both railroads are footing the bill to repair their bridges. Incidentally these railroads are both vital to the reconstruction efforts since the trailers and heavy building materials will be carried upon them.
I don't remember the gov't ever needing to bail out CSX, but they have AMTRAK.

Anyone who expects the United States Government to do anything but fill their own pockets and their families and friends pockets with the taxpayers money. There heads are so far removed from reality, that they need to go anywhere and stick their heads in the sand also, as they are a part of the problem.

Hey it's great news to here that some of the transportation infrastructure is getting back in service. I still propose to make the lowest parts of New Orleans a national landfill. When it is filled well above sea and lake and river level, then it might make sense to rebuild it. All the waste from across the country can soon be shipped via rail, dumped leveled and covered like we do all over the country. Now the need for levees, pumps, canals and all the other infrasturture to protect a city form what is inevitably going to happen again. Amtrak and the rail systems could use the business, local dump sites would not have to worry about finding new sites for a long time, New Orleans would be above sea level. The cost would be spread out over a number of years. I haven't heard of a better plan to fix the mess in this flood prone region.

Hey, Glenn....the Army Corps of Engineers contracted the levee work out to private contractors. Me thinks that Red was right.

Please remember that Amtrak was created to bail out the PRIVATE railroads' passenger service in 1971. So I would be careful to understand the history before making comments concerning the "bailing out" of Amtrak. The federal government spends in one week in Iraq what it spends on Amtrak for an entire year. Plus, Amtrak makes some of its own money to help alleviate losses.

As for private industry doing a better job than the Government on construction projects, there are times when that is true, and there are times when it is not. The CSX bridge is THEIR bridge, and it is in THEIR best interest to get the bridge up and running ASAP so they can start generate revenue over it again. I can assure all of you had it not been their bridge and they were under a Government contract, it wouldn't be going this quickly and efficiently.

As for flood control, it is a federal manner. It is very expensive to build dams and levies; far more money than local governments can budget. It never ceases to amaze me how some people still think the City of New Orleans was responsible for the levee shortcomings, when they already asked for Federal assistance to bring them to a Cat. 5 standard.

The Army Corps. of Engineers designed the project. Private contractors built it in an unstaisfactory manner. They short-cutted the pile driving procedure that led to the undermining of the levee. All to save precious money, of course.

Wow this is an amasing sight all of the work that is being put into thin re build i think that we are doing a good job but that still doesent change my thoughts about our presedent bush

We all must remember that in order to rebuild New Orleans, Federal, State and Local officials must come to the table and map out a long range plan where we heed the warnings of building below sea level and adhere to best practices in engineering. Its time everyone quit pointing fingers and trying to place blame and get on with the business of reconstruction or relocation...

The levees are parts of navigable waterways of the united states - they were built by private companies under contract by the U.S. Corps of Engineers. The local levee boards were responsible for maintenance. It has already been determined by a team of engineers that the sheet pilings were not driven deep enough and were floating in the fill soil - that is why they failed. I lived on the 17th St. Canal. I sickens me to read clueless pompous out of state "knowitalls" trash our communities while we struggle to rebuild. I invite Randy and Jimmy to come stay in our trailer and educate themselves.

Jimmy, it is funny how you can blame the mayor and the govenor who were not the first to hear of the situation with the levees. Nagin has only been in office for the past year, so where is he to blame when the discussions about the problems with the levee system were going on years before he was in office. Now, Blanco is another issue.

I am not saying that the mayor nor the govenor are not at any fault in this matter, but tell me, when the emails and all of the other paperwork comes out about who did what and how they didn't respond who is really to blame.

We can send money to other countries, you can figth for two years for weapons of mass destruction and to find Al Quida and we still have not corrected the problem here with our own security system, but Chaney's former company, and the members of the good ole boy system have very deep pockets and three states have lost the people and productivity of their major cities.

If the state of Mississippi really wanted the other bridges repaired in a timely manner, they wouldn't be sitting around waiting for FEMA to do something about it.

When Hurricane Ivan hit Pensacola last year, Jeb! had emergency construction constracts drafted before landfall, and the state of Florida had contracts in place to replace the I-10 bridge as soon as the first pictures of the extent of the damage came out and before the winds even died down.

Working together, the state of Florida and the private construction comapny had the bridge and I-10 open to limited non-heavyweight traffic 18 days after Ivan made landfall.

http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2004/Oct04/100704.htm

I work with the company that is in the process of rebuilding the rail bridge for CSX, and these people are hard working, dedicated and awesome bridge builders. The reason that it is moving so smooth and ahead of schedule is not because of cutting corners and doing half butt work, it is because we have roughly 75 people that are working hard TOGETHER. Working as a TEAM. That is the way it should be. We should all pull together to help the people of the coast.
I use to hate the drive down to the bridge every morning, seeing all the destruction. Dirt and mud covering everything, no green grass anywhere, no green trees anywhere, made me feel like I was driving through a war zone where a dozen tomahocks hit. But now, due to the hard work of some, there is new life showing on the coast. Volunteers at the Church by the rail bridge have brought the Church grounds back to life. And the new fresh concrete bridge that is almost poured out, is a wonderful sign of PROGRESS.
I for one am proud to be a part of the progress on the coast, regardless of who is funding it.

Just because you're not REQUIRED to cary flood insurance doesn't mean you don't have any risk when you decide not to have it. I'm not required to at my home in SW Florida, but I do anyway, and it was comforting to know I had it when Rita and Wilma were cutting through here. Had I not carried it and been flooded, that would be MY bad decision, and no one else's.

How compassionate thou are. Were the people of Louisiana pointing the finger at Rudy or the President for 9/11? No they donated all they could and sent new fire trucks, and volunteers went to cook gumbo and jambalaya. Who cares who's to blame. If a major earthquake hit California today, the good people of Louisiana would still give what they could and help in whatever way they could. Forget what you saw on the news, they are our brothers and sisters, they have stood next to us in battle to defend your freedom. And for what? Now Katrina is old news, the government can stand back and Americans can worry about more important things like Christmas shopping and the stock market. This is not what our founding fathers envisioned when they challenged an impossible situation and created one nation under GOD.

It's amazing reading the comments posted above. We can all be arm chair quarterbacks, but the real question should be, "If you were to use this, live here or you and your wife and childen's lives depended on this would you build it this way? This is what should determine the rebuilding of the lives of all of those who've been displaced.
It is certainly more appropriate to find out what went wrong rather than to blame those who built it.
We seem to have to find blame, when what's needed is for everyone to go forward with rebuilding rather than visit the past.

i am very happy to hear about any recovery going on in miss. seems all you heard about was new orleans. i am from and was in hancock county during katrina. i, like many others lost everything. since then i have been swimming in the fema red tape. i have relocated to north carolina and tried to start a new life. assistance is something of a joke. because i left, and because i got a job to provide a roof over our heads and get off peoples living room floors. i am not eligible for help through social services. i have struggled back from nothing, no major thanks to anyone except the few kind individuals whom i have had the pleasure of knowing. i feel abandoned and betrayed by my government. while i have to do the fema two-step, my government is right there holding out its hand each week when i get my paycheck. they get theirs. i keep paying taxes so that we can be left out in the cold. pay attention america, this could've been you. then what. and to all of you who showed up in the immediate days after the storm providing water, food, meds,clothing, and often just a warm smile of encouragement, thank you and god bless you for reaching out to do what those who were entrusted with the job would not.

Doug, who do you think pays for bridges and levees to be built or re-built? Us taxpayers....i.e., the "government". LA and MS could do what Los Angeles did after the Northridge earthquake....offer cash incentives to builders for early project completion...it worked for us, it can work for everyone.

They should have listened to Mark Twain when he said you can't tame the mississippi.

I hate to disappoint all of the followers of government failures but today one of the studies of one of the failed levees was completed. They pulled 9 sheet piles, the next 9 inline, and discovered that all of them were perfect and to government specs. They were all driven deep enough, they were all tested and nothing at all was found to be wrong.

THIS JUST TOOK ALL THE WIND OUT OF THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION INTO ANY WRONG DOING. MOST OF YOU ON THE BLOG DO NOT KNOW THIS BECAUSE IT WAS JUST RELEASED ON LOCAL NEWS ABOUT 10 MINUTES AGO.

Dittos on Charlie Syrie. There is a ton of jabber about who did or didn't do whatever. As I said earlier, the test, so far indicate that the levees were built to spec.(Just released on local news in Louisiana tonight). I imagine they will continue to investigate until the discover the real reason for the actual failer.
But I would have to agree with Charlie and others that are sick of the "Arm Chair Quarterbacks". It is so easy to critisize when your up North and too LAZY to get off your rear end and come down here and see the facts. 90% of those being critical haven't a clue and I can only equate some of this discussion to a comparison of discussing one brick on the ground in 9/11. You only think you know how bad it is when in fact you are not even close to understanding the magnitude of this disasster.

This could have happened to any city. If some of the towns on the east coast had a direct hit storm, like Katrina, then all of their welfare would float up to the top as well. New Orleans is not alone. Welfare is a nation wide cancer so quit critisizing this area and get off you butts and do something about it.

Seemed to me, When one of then levees was built it ran into very serious cost overruns.,when the company building the levee asked for more money to repair the levee right, they were denied, and and had to work with the moneies that they had,, a band-aid effect..city + government officals knew they had a problem..

isnt the govt elected? why do people complain about the very thing they gave power to? how about instead of complaining about it you know better next time who never to vote for! duh. problem solved.

I feel that the government and the mayor of New Orleans acted way too slow. If they would have been a lot faster in responding, maybe the death toll would have been a lot lower. I have to agree with the person who stated that if the levees were not managed by the government, they might have maintained better than they have been. The government I feel is in the business of robbing the public and yes, they are too slow when it comes to assisting victims of Hurricane Katrina. It is time for a new government body that is managed by the people and for the people. Gee, does that statement sound familiar or what, "By the people, for the people?" Good job to the construction company who is ahead of schedule, you aren't managed by the government, are you?

I have visited New Orleans several times and I can understand about how bad the flooding was. When you are walking next to the levees, the water is actually higher than you. It is so scary to imagine that just one little break in the levees and that spells disaster. The levees are in much need of an overhaul and possibly built higher. This should be considered and completed before next year's hurricane season.

Rebuilding on the piers Katrina left? So, in other words, this bridge will be no more durable than the last one. Why is that considered good news?

Just a note: This story is about Bay St. Louis. Not New Orleans.

Could any bridge be built adequately to withstand a monster like Katrina? I doubt it. Our beach home was supposed to be hurricane proof, built with a new and improved foundation and structure...now only the foundation is left. Katrina was beyond all imagining. Not a 100 year storm... it was a 1000 year storm. It caused devastation in 3 states and it's arms filled the entire Gulf of Mexico. Come on. Sometimes nature throws things at us that nothing can withstand. We are human and our works are sometimes much more fragile and temporary than we like to think. You do the best, and wisest thing you can. Does that mean that it will last forever? Probably not, but hopefully, it will last a good long time, and start to bring needed commerce back into the region, and provide occasional passenger service too. That will be enough. Thanks to the crew for all their hard work!