Mississippi Aerial River Transit

MART Mississippi Aerial River Transit
During the World Fair, 1984
Overview
Status	Dismantled in 1994
Location	New Orleans
Coordinates	29°56′40″N 90°03′45″W / 29.94444°N 90.06250°W / 29.94444; -90.06250
Termini	Algiers, New Orleans Warehouse District (the fair site)
No. of stations	2
Open	April 1984
Closed	April 1985
Operation
No. of carriers	53
Carrier capacity	6[1]
Ridership	(max.) 2,000 hourly
Operating times	10 am – 2 am[1]
Trip duration	4 min
Fare	$3.50 roundtrip[2]
Technical features
Aerial lift type	gondola lift
Manufactured by	Pomagalski SA
Line length	2,300 feet (701 m)
No. of support towers	2

The Mississippi Aerial River Transit, or simply MART, was a gondola lift transport system spanning the Mississippi River in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It was constructed for the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition. After the fair, this served as the second urban aerial lift and the first gondola lift commuter system in the United States,^[3] in operation for just a year before closing.

The system featured 53 separate cars, a 2,300 feet (700 m) cross-river cable, twin steel towers that lifted the cable 200 feet (61 m) into the air, two station houses, concrete pillars that anchored the cable and two 358 feet (109 m) steel towers.^[4] Each of the two main towers were supported with 12-inch (300 mm) steel piles driven 285 feet (87 m) into the ground, with each tower weighing 200 short tons (180 t).^[4] Its twin towers were the tallest ever constructed for a gondola lift at the time.^[5] (The London Cable Car in the UK, built nearly three decades later, would exceed this former record by 50%.)