Iberia Council tables Vida Shaw Bridge repairs to allow further communication with engineering company

Published 4:30 am Sunday, March 20, 2022

Work on the Vida Shaw Bridge continues to be delayed after the Iberia Parish Council tabled a resolution to spend $102,720 in the general fund for repairs to the bridge.

Parish President Larry Richard said Friday the resolution was tabled due to needed additional communication with an engineering company in regards to the bridge repairs.

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The resolution is set to show up again on the Iberia Parish Council agenda during their March 23 meeting.

The Vida Shaw Bridge has been closed to one lane for several months due to needed repairs that the parish president and local residents have cited as much needed.

Ray Boyd, a resident in the Vida Shaw area, said the wooden pylons that hold up the bridge are rotted and the top of the bridge is saturated with mud.

“It’s dangerous,” Boyd said during a Jan. 11 Iberia Parish Council meeting. “The bridge is out to one lane and sugar cane trucks are moving across it. There’s going to be an accident.”

Iberia Parish Government had done repair work last year on the bridge with asphalt being poured onto needed portions, but Richard and Parish Councilman for the district Scott Ransonet agreed that additional work was needed to secure the bridge.

Currently, the bridge is still only passable through one lane, with the other section of the bridge as well as several feet of Vida Shaw Road closed as a result of the condition of the infrastructure.

The state of the bridge has also brought back discussions about the Vida Bridge just a few miles away. The one-lane bridge that crosses the Bayou Teche has been closed for years.

Although parish officials have sought to replace the bridge, such a feat would be a multi-million dollar process and too much for parish coffers currently.

Richard said a plan was hatched years ago for a bridge in Delcambre to replace the Vida Bridge, but ultimately never came to fruition. The Vida Bridge also has historic interest due to it being called one of the last one-lane bridges in service in Louisiana.

The Vida Shaw Bridge will be taken up by the Iberia Parish Council at Wednesday’s meeting for approval of necessary bridge repairs.