Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is a fixed link composed of two parallel bridges. The southern terminus of the causeway is in Metairie, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans. The northern terminus is at Mandeville, Louisiana. The idea of a bridge spanning LakePontchartrain dates back to the early 19th century.

About Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in brief

Summary Lake Pontchartrain CausewayThe Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is a fixed link composed of two parallel bridges. The southern terminus of the causeway is in Metairie, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans. The northern terminus is at Mandeville, Louisiana. The two bridges feature a bascule, which spans the navigation channel 8 miles south of the north shore. The idea of a bridge spanning LakePontchartrain dates back to the early 19th century. The original causeway was a two-lane span, measuring 23. 86 miles in length. Six people died when barges tore a gap in the bridge and a bus plunged into the lake on June 16, 1964. Since 1969, it was listed by Guinness World Records as the longest bridge over water in the world.

In 2011, in response to the opening of the longer Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in China, Guinness World records created two categories for bridges over water: continuous and aggregate lengths over water. The longer of the two bridges is 23. 83 miles long. The causeways have never sustained major damage of any sort from hurricanes or other natural occurrences, a rarity among causeways. After Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, videos collected showed damage to the bridge, and damage was mostly limited to the turnarounds. With the I-10 Twin Span Bridge severely damaged, the Causeway was used as a major route for recovery teams to get into the north to the New Orleans area.