UPDATE

Driving along the interstate through New Orleans East I felt like I had stepped into a photograph fromWorld War II. Along the sides of the road, where once grew thousands of green trees now stood only brown, bare shattered remains of that once had been there. For miles there is no sight of anything but this desolate starkness. It reminded me of photos I have seen of parts of Europe during World War II where firebombs had been dropped.. Crossing the lake now was easier. Both sides of the Twin Spans are now open. One side had been being used for traffic coming and going across the lake. This bridge is vital to New Orleans, prehaps even more so now with the added people living in Slidell and surrounding areas that still need to travel into the city. This is the type of rebuilding and rebirth that the city needs. Both sides of the Twin Spans were up and running by the first of the year. See what can be done. Driving along the interstate at points it easy to forget what has happened to the city. Everything looks fairly normal, until you turn a corner and see a row of billboards torn apart. Or a business sign still on its side, half crushed through the business it used to advertise for. The Sam's in New Orleans East was torn down to the framework. They tore the walls and everything down to start over.