Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

Not to be confused with the Pontchartrain Expressway, a section of Interstate 10 and U.S. Route 90 Business.
Lake Pontchartrain Causeway
Aerial view of the causeway
Coordinates30°11′59″N 90°07′22″W / 30.1997°N 90.1228°W / 30.1997; -90.1228
Carries4 lanes of Causeway Boulevard
CrossesLake Pontchartrain
LocaleMetairie and Mandeville, Louisiana, U.S.
Other name(s)The Causeway
Maintained byCauseway Commission
Characteristics
DesignLow-level trestle with mid-span bascule
Total length23.875 mi (38.442 km)
Clearance above15 ft
History
OpenedAugust 30, 1956 (southbound)
May 10, 1969 (northbound)
Statistics
Daily traffic43,000[1]
Toll$6.00 (southbound)
Location
Map
The southern end of the causeway at Metairie, Louisiana, in 1998

The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (French: Chaussée du lac Pontchartrain), also known simply as The Causeway,[2] is a fixed link composed of two parallel bridges crossing Lake Pontchartrain in southeastern Louisiana, United States. The longer of the two bridges is 23.83 miles (38.35 km) long. The southern terminus of the causeway is in Metairie, Louisiana, and the northern terminus is in Mandeville, Louisiana. Both are in the New Orleans metropolitan area.

The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway holds the Guinness World Record for longest continuous span over water in the world. It previously was listed as longest bridge over water in the world; in 2011, in response to the opening of the Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in China, Guinness World Records created two categories for bridges over water: Lake Pontchartrain Causeway then became the longest bridge over water (continuous), while the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge became the longest bridge over water (aggregate).[3][4]

The bridges are supported by 9,500 concrete pilings.[5] The two bridges feature a bascule, which spans the navigation channel 8 miles (13 km) south of the north shore.

  1. ^ Christine Harvey, New Orleans Times-Picayune. "Causeway lighting project cost double expectations". Archived from the original on 2007-03-15. Retrieved 2007-02-22.
  2. ^ "The Causeway website". Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  3. ^ "Longest bridge over water (continuous)". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  4. ^ "Longest bridge over water (aggregate length)". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  5. ^ "PILE RESTORATION OF THE LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN CAUSEWAY" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-11-04. Retrieved 2008-12-19.