The Garcon Point Bridge exemplifies a community’s perseverance to construct a much needed bridge using non-traditional forms of funding. Innovative financing was used to fund the project, including $8.5 million in state loans and $95 million in revenue bonds. These bonds were backed only by future toll revenues without support of any local, state, or federal government.

The 7.5 miles of roadway and 18,425’ long precast concrete segmental bridge were built in 29 months, one month ahead of schedule. Typical spans measure 140’ and were erected with the span-by-span construction method using a temporary erection truss that supported the segments from underneath the bottom soffit. The 225’ main span provides 65’ of vertical clearance over the navigable waterway and was erected using a modified balanced cantilever scheme with a temporary truss supporting the 140’ back span during construction.

In May 1998, seven 140’ spans (980’) were erected in seven consecutive days, which set a world record for precast segmental span-by-span construction.

The superstructure is supported by cast-in-place piers for the low-level section and precast, post-tensioned box piers for the high level section.