John James Audubon Bridge (Mississippi River)

John James Audubon Bridge
Coordinates	30°43′13.32″N 91°21′5.36″W / 30.7203667°N 91.3514889°W / 30.7203667; -91.3514889
Carries	4 lanes of LA 10
Crosses	Lower Mississippi River
Locale	Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana
Maintained by	LaDOTD
Characteristics
Design	Cable-stayed bridge
Total length	12,883 ft (3,927 m)[1]
Width	75.8 ft (23.1 m)[2]
Height	520 ft (158 m)[3]
Longest span	1,583 ft (482 m)[3]
Clearance below	65 ft (20 m)[1][4] minimum at HWL (High Water Level); the MHWL (Mean High Water Level) clearance is 76.2 ft (23.2 m); the LWL (Low Water Level) clearance is 116.1 ft (35.4 m)[2]
History
Construction cost	$409 million[3]
Opened	May 5, 2011[5]
Replaces	New Roads–St. Francisville Ferry
Location

The John James Audubon Bridge, completed and opened in May 2011, is a Lower Mississippi River crossing between Pointe Coupee and West Feliciana parishes in south central Louisiana. The bridge has the second longest cable-stayed span (distance between towers) in the Western Hemisphere at 1,583 ft (482 m), after Mexico's Baluarte Bridge with a 1,706 ft (520 m) span, and has a total length of 12,883 ft (3,927 m)—nearly three-and-a-half times longer than the Baluarte Bridge's 3,688 ft (1,124 m) total length.^[1][6] The Audubon Bridge replaces the ferry between the communities of New Roads and St. Francisville. The bridge also serves as the only bridge structure on the Mississippi River between Natchez, Mississippi and Baton Rouge, Louisiana (approximately 90 river miles). The bridge conveys Louisiana Highway 10, which is in a concurrence there with the Zachary Taylor Parkway.