Katrina Cripples Transport in Gulf Region

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s residents and officials struggled to cope with the widespread destruction of Hurricane Katrina, freight transportation in the Southeastern United States came to a virtual standstill last week.

The hurricane forced nearly all ports, airports and railroad tracks in the region to close, and severely damaged several key highways.

In Louisiana and Mississippi, Interstate 10 and U.S. 90, the only two major routes for commercial trucking across southern Louisiana, were all but destroyed.

“At this point nobody can get in or out of the area; this is the catastrophe we’ve always heard about and now it’s here,” said Cathy Gautreaux, executive director of the Louisiana Motor Transport Association. “The economy is going to be [affected] tremendously.”

In New Orleans, water burst through two levees on Lake Pontchartrain, creating a transportation nightmare.

“Bridges and roads have been taken out through Louisiana and Mississippi,” said Pat Lemons, senior vice president of operations for Yellow Transportation, a subsidiary of Yellow Roadway Corp. “Civil authorities won’t allow any commercial traffic into the Gulfport or New Orleans areas. Every day the devastation continues to worsen.”

“This is not just like picking up after a storm,” said Mark Lambert, communications director at the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. “The twin spans of the I-10 Bridge over Lake Pontchartrain have been severely damaged. The bridge is impassable because 40% of it is missing.”

Yellow’s Lemons told Transport Topics a terminal in New Orleans was “under water,” and its Hattiesburg and Gulfport, Miss., locations remained closed. “We’re pretty sure we lost the New Orleans terminal,” he said.

For the full story, see the Sept. 5 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.