Problem with .load

Problem with .load

I am having an issue with .load. For some reason it seems to be closing tags on it's own and not sure how to fix it. I am trying to load a page into a div.

here is the jquery code
  1.     $(function(){
            $("a.load").click(function (e) {
                e.preventDefault();
                $("#pdetails").show("slow");
                $("#projd").load($(this).attr("href"));
            });
        });





Here is the link to load the code 
  1. <a href="/media/pdet/5" class="load" />Details</a>
here is the div which to hold the loaded page
  1.     <div id="projd" />

        </div>

and here is the page being loaded. I am using php codeigniter to retrieve data from a database
  1. function pdet()
      {
        echo '
        <script type="text/javascript">
          $(".pd_exit").click(function(){
          $("#pdetails").hide("slow");
        });
        </script>';
        $id = $this->uri->segment(3);
        $gisdb = $this->load->database($this->user_model->gisdb(), TRUE);
        $query = $gisdb->get_where("PROJECT_AREAS", array("PID" => $id));
        $r = $query->row();
        $query->free_result();
        $edate = empty($r->DATE_ENDED) ? "ONGOING" : date("m/d/Y", strtotime($r->DATE_ENDED));
        echo '<table class="pdtable" />
            <tr>
              <td>Project Number</td>
              <td>'.$r->PROJECT_NUMBER.'</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td>Street Name</td>
              <td>'.$r->ST_NAME.'</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td>Contractor</td>
              <td>'.$r->CONTRACTOR.'</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td>Contractor Contact</td>
              <td>'.$r->CONT_CONTACT.'</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td>Project Number</td>
              <td>'.$r->CONT_PHONE.'</td>
            <tr>
            </tr>
              <td>PWSB Inspector</td>
              <td>'.$r->INSPECTOR.'</td>
            <tr>
            <tr>
              <td>Inspector Phone</td>
              <td>'.$r->INSP_PHONE.'</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td>Project Coodinator</td>
              <td>'.$r->COORDINATOR.'</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td>Limits</td>
              <td>'.nl2br($r->LIMITS).'</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td>On Bypass?</td>
              <td>'.$r->BYPASS.'</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td>Start Date</td>
              <td>'.date("m/d/Y", strtotime($r->DATE_STARTED)).'</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
              <td>End Date</td>
              <td>'.$edate.'</td>
            </tr>
          </table>';
      }































































the problem I am having is it seems to close the table and strip out the tr and td tags. here is the result
  1. <div id="projd"><table class="pdtable"></table>
         
           
              Project Number
              037-South
           
           
              Street Name
              Some
           
           
              Contractor
              Some
           
           
              Contractor Contact
              lkgj
           
           
              Project Number
              (401) 555-5555
           
           
              PWSB Inspector
              lkjg
           
           
              Inspector Phone
              (401) 556-8525
           
           
              Project Coodinator
              some
           
           
              Limits
              limisasdf
        <br></br>
         
    fadsf
        <br></br>
         
    dsfa
           
           
              On Bypass?
              YES
           
           
              Start Date
              04/01/2013
           
           
              End Date
              ONGOING
           
         
        </div>
























































I have tried using .ajax, .get all with the same results. even tried putting it into a json encoded array.

Any help is appreciated

Thanks

Ray