The Huey P. Long Bridge, located just outside of New Orleans, Louisiana, allows railcar and commuters to cross the Mississippi River. Originally built in 1935, construction began in April 2006 to increase the amount of lanes and improve the rail system. In May of 2007, Portland Bolt supplied large nonstandard anchor bolts for the second phase of modifications that would relocate portions of the rail support system to allow for new approaches to be built in later phases of the project.
The 12,000 pounds of anchor bolts supplied were 3-1/4″ and 4″ in diameter, hot-dipped galvanized and up to 9′ long. Many of the anchor bolts had to be embedded into concrete with a coupling nut and, when other construction was complete, assembled with a shorter 3-1/4″ diameter anchor bolt to complete the assembly. Portland Bolt ensured that the bolts and nut would be in tolerance and perform once embedded into concrete by using a variety of thread gauges and assembling the hardware on the rods before shipping. The contractor installing the anchor bolts trusted Portland Bolt with this critical portion of the job.