Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

The **Lake Pontchartrain Causeway** (in French: Chaussée du lac Pontchartrain), also called **The Causeway**, is made of two long bridges side by side. These bridges cross Lake Pontchartrain in southeastern Louisiana, United States. The longer bridge is  long. The south end of the bridge is in Metairie, Louisiana, and the north end is in Mandeville, Louisiana. Both places are near New Orleans.

The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway holds the Guinness World Record for the longest bridge over water without breaks in the world. Before, it was named the longest bridge over water. In 2011, after the Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in China opened, Guinness World Records made two types of water bridges: The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway became the longest unbroken bridge over water, and the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge became the longest bridge over water in total length.

The bridges are held up by 9,500 concrete posts. There is a part of the bridge that can open, called a bascule,  from the north end for boats to pass.

## History

The idea to build a bridge across Lake Pontchartrain started a long time ago, in the early 1800s. Bernard de Marigny, who created the town of Mandeville, began a ferry service. The ferry worked until the 1930s. In the 1920s, there was a plan to make man-made islands and connect them with bridges. Money for this would come from selling land for houses on these islands.

The modern bridge idea came in 1948 when Ernest M. Loëb Jr. had the vision for it. He worked hard to get the Louisiana government to create the Causeway Commission. The Louisiana Bridge Company was set up to build the bridge, and James E. Walters Sr. led the project. Ernest M. Loëb’s nephew, Ernest M. Loëb III, helped plan the construction.

The first bridge had two lanes and was  long. It opened in 1956 and cost $46 million, which would be $ million today. The bridge included three roads at the north end and a long road at the south end.

On June 16, 1964, a bus fell into the lake after barges hit the bridge, and six people died.

A second, slightly longer bridge opened on May 10, 1969. It also had two lanes and cost $30 million, equal to $ million today.

Since it opened, the causeway has charged tolls. Before 1999, drivers paid a toll going both ways. To help with traffic on the south end, tolls were only taken from drivers going south. In 1999, the toll was $1.50 each way, but it changed to $3 only for southbound traffic. In 2017, the toll went up to $5 for cash and $3 with a toll tag to pay for safety improvements.

The bridge helped small towns on the north side by making the drive to New Orleans shorter by about 50 minutes. Before the causeway, people used other bridges near Slidell or went through Manchac, Louisiana.

When Hurricane Katrina hit on August 29, 2005, videos showed the bridge had some damage. The storm caused less damage under the causeway than to the I-10 Twin Span Bridge. Seventeen spans were lost, but the main structure stayed strong. The fiber optic cables were blown out of place but stayed unbroken. With the I-10 bridge badly damaged, the causeway was used by rescue teams to reach New Orleans. It reopened first for emergency use, then to everyone on September 19, 2005, without tolls. Tolls returned in mid-October.

The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is one of seven long bridges in Louisiana, each over  long. The others are the Manchac Swamp Bridge, Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, Louisiana Highway 1 Bridge, Bonnet Carré Spillway Bridge, Chacahoula Swamp Bridge, and Lake Pontchartrain Twin Spans. The Maestri Bridge is close but just under 5 miles. Louisiana also has one of the longest train bridges, the Norfolk Southern Lake Pontchartrain Bridge, which is  long.

The Manchac Swamp Bridge, Bonnet Carré Spillway Bridge, and LaBranche Wetlands Bridge together form a continuous elevated road over  long.

In 2013, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway was named a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

## Controversy

For many years, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway was called the longest bridge over water in the world by Guinness World Records. In July 2011, the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in China was named the "longest bridge over water" by Guinness World Records. At that time, some people in the United States were unhappy. They did not agree with Guinness World Records for not calling the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway the longest. These people said it was longer if you only counted the part over water. They said the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway was  long over water. The Jiaozhou Bay Bridge went over water for only . But Guinness World Records also counted other parts, like land bridges and a tunnel, so they said the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge was  long. Because of the disagreement in 2011, Guinness World Records made two kinds of bridge records: one for the longest over water (continuous) and one for the longest over water (aggregate). The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway became the longest bridge over water (continuous), and the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge became the longest bridge over water (aggregate).

## Infobox (bridge)

- **bridge name**: Lake Pontchartrain Causeway
- **image**: Lake Pontchatrain Causeway Aerial - Jan2013 (32382802513).jpg
- **image size**: 300px
- **caption**: Aerial view of the causeway
- **carries**: 4 lanes of Causeway Boulevard
- **crosses**: Lake Pontchartrain
- **locale**: Metairie, Louisiana, Metairie and Mandeville, Louisiana, Mandeville, Louisiana, U.S.
- **also known as**: The Causeway
- **maint**: Causeway Commission
- **design**: Low-level Trestle bridge, trestle with mid-span bascule bridge, bascule
- **length**: 23.875 mi (38.442 km)
- **clearance**: 15 ft
- **open**: August 30, 1956 (southbound)
 May 10, 1969 (northbound)
- **traffic**: 43,000
- **toll**: $6.00 (southbound)