Huey P. Long Bridge (Jefferson Parish)
Huey P. Long Bridge | |
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The Huey Long Bridge in 2007, when widening work had just begun. | |
| Coordinates | 29°56′39″N 90°10′08″W / 29.94417°N 90.16889°W |
| Carries | US 90 and New Orleans Public Belt Railroad |
| Crosses | Mississippi River |
| Locale | Jefferson Parish, Louisiana |
| Owner | New Orleans Public Belt Railroad |
| Maintained by |
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| ID number | 022600060100001 |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Cantilever truss bridge |
| Total length | 8,076 ft (2,462 m) (road) 22,996 ft (7,009 m) (rail) |
| Width | 84 ft (26 m) |
| Longest span | 790 ft (241 m) |
| Clearance below | 153 ft (47 m) |
| No. of lanes | 6 |
| Rail characteristics | |
| No. of tracks | 2 |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| History | |
| Construction cost | $13.4 million (equivalent to $241 million in 2024) |
| Opened | December 1935 |
| Rebuilt | June 2013 |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic |
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| Location | |
Interactive map of Huey P. Long Bridge | |
The Huey P. Long Bridge, located in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, is a cantilevered steel through-truss bridge that carries a two-track railroad line over the Mississippi River at mile 106.1, with three lanes of US 90 on each side of the central tracks. It is several kilometers upriver from the city of New Orleans. The East Bank entrance is at Elmwood, Louisiana, and the West Bank at Bridge City.
Opened in December 1935, the bridge was named for the late Governor Huey P. Long, who was assassinated on September 8 of that year. The bridge was the first Mississippi River span built in Louisiana and the 29th along the length of the river. It was designed by Polish-American engineer Ralph Modjeski and is designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
On June 16, 2013, a $1.2 billion widening project by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development was completed and opened to motorists. The bridge now consists of three 11-foot (3.4 m) lanes in each direction, with inside and outside shoulders. Prior to the expansion, there were two 9-foot (2.7 m) lanes in each direction with no shoulders. In both cases, the road lanes flanked the twin railroad tracks contained within the truss.
In 2014, a writer at The New Yorker described the bridge as "a structure so vaulting and high that it seems to extend from one white, towering Gulf Coast cloud to the next."