In May of 2013, 24-year-old Matthew Myer was driving his Dodge Avenger on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway when another vehicle struck his car, jolting him toward the line of metal beams separating road from water. In mere seconds, his sedan mounted the bridge railing, struck a pole and plunged into the lake.

Somehow, the Folsom native survived — sustaining no injuries, according to Times-Picayune reports — by clinging to a spare tire that had popped to the surface. But others hadn't been as lucky.

Myer's crash was the ninth overboard that the southbound span had seen in 19 years, and Causeway General Manager Carlton Dufrechou knew there would be more.

The key issue was a five-inch difference in height between the bridge's northbound and southbound spans, Durefrchou realized. The nex

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