Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Facts: Explore All About The Longest Bridge

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is the lifeline to the heart of Louisiana..

This causeway bridge is a twin span bridge. This is the world's longest bridge across a water body according to the Guinness World Records.

There are two parallel bridges that cross Lake Pontchartrain. This bridge is situated in southern Louisiana. The longer bridge of the two is 23.83 mi (38.35 km) in length. In Metairie lies the southern terminus and in Mandeville lies the northern terminus of the two bridges.

In 2011, there was a competition to claim the title of being the longest bridge over water. This claim was initially claimed by Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in China. However after a long battle, two separate categories were made so that both these bridges could receive a record. The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway was awarded the longest bridge over water.

A total of 9,500 concrete pilings are used to support these twin span bridge. A bascule spans the 8 mi (13 km) bridge as a navigation channel from south of the north shore.

It is a toll bridge governed by the bridge police to maintain the traffic and manage this major route. Every year, 12 million vehicles use this causeway.

Where is the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway?

The fastest way across a lake is to make a way through the center. This can be done by building a tunnel or a bridge over the water body.

The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is approximately 24 mi (38km) in length and it is a continuously elevated roadway across this large body of water. These are called twin bridges as they run parallel to each other and they do not intersect.

The name causeway has been given to this bridge as it is an elevated bridge across a water body.

This bridge is the longest one over an open water body in the whole world. This is a large saline lake surrounded by wetlands.

These bridges are used to connect southern Louisiana to Mississippi. An area of 610 sq mi (1580 sq km) is covered by this lake and the busy city of New Orleans can be reached thanks to this bridge.

There are three edges of the bridge and the total is one contiguous bridge with a complete length of 38 mi (61 km).

Architecture Of The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

This causeway is one of the seven highways spanning Louisiana. It is the longest bridge over a water body in the world.

The highway spans 8 mi (13 km) and parts of the bridge were prefabricated and brought to the location to be installed. 9500 concrete pillars are used to hold this bridge over water.

It took over 14 months to build this whole bridge and start the toll bridge. The bridge was built in 1956. Initially, this bridge had a cost of 30 million dollars.

Currently, this bridge is the longest continuous bridge in the world. However, there was a disagreement prior to this bridge gaining this title.

In 2011, Jiaozhou Bay Bridge claimed to be the longest bridge. After a long row of discussions about land bridges and water bridges, a consensus was formed. The bridge over Lake Pontchartrain was again awarded the longest bridge and is the longest continuous elevated bridge in the world.

What is the purpose of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway?

The main aim to build such a long bridge was to reduce the time taken to reach from Metairie to Mandeville. The lake is very big and used to take hours traveling around the edges of it.

The construction of this bridge has reduced the travel time to just 50 minutes. North shore has become closer to New Orleans, meaning that trade and the life of people in both cities have become better as they can seek opportunities in both cities.

The idea of the plan to build this bridge dates back to the 19th century. Bernard de Marigny has been credited with coming up with this idea. He was the founder of Mandeville. He was also the brilliant mind behind the ferry service that ran until the '30s.

He had also suggested creating artificial islands in between, connecting them with the mainland with help of a network of bridges. He had proposed the plan to collect funds by selling the land of these artificial islands for the purpose of homes. However, this was not a success.

In 1948, Ernest M.Loeb developed the causeway project. A causeway commission was made to decide how this bridge connecting to the cities was to be made.

The Louisiana Bridge Company was commissioned for the construction of a parallel two-lane span bridge. They planned and executed the construction work from scratch, not just the bridge but the pillars were fabricated too.

This modern causeway joined north shore to south shore of Lake Pontchartrain. The southbound traffic uses one side while the other side is traffic heading north.

Over the years, there have been a few accidents such as when the barges tore. Also, a bus plunged into the water killing many people. Since then, maintenance has avoided any more incidences between the north end and the south end.

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