Huey P. Long Bridge (Baton Rouge)
The Huey P. Long - O.K. Allen Bridge (locally known as the Old Bridge) is a truss cantilever bridge over the Mississippi River carrying US 190 (Airline Highway) and one rail line between East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana and West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.
Huey P. Long Bridge | |
|---|---|
Huey P. Long Bridge from the southwest | |
| Coordinates | 30°30′25″N 91°11′51″W |
| Carries | 4 lanes of US 190 1 Canadian Pacific Kansas City rail line |
| Crosses | Mississippi River |
| Locale | Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Official name | Huey P. Long - O.K. Allen Bridge |
| Other name(s) | Old Bridge |
| Maintained by | Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development |
| ID number | 611700071000001 |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Cantilever truss bridge |
| Total length | 5,879 feet (1,792 m) |
| Clearance below | 113 feet (34 m) |
| History | |
| Construction cost | $8.4 million |
| Opened | August 1940 |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 17,300 |
| Location | |
Although the bridge is named after former Louisiana governors Huey P. Long and Oscar K. Allen, it is known locally in the Baton Rouge Area as "the old bridge".
It was the only bridge across the Mississippi in Baton Rouge from its opening until April 1968, when the Horace Wilkinson Bridge ("the new bridge") carrying Interstate 10 opened. Until 2011, when the John James Audubon Bridge opened between St. Francisville and New Roads, it was the last bridge crossing the Mississippi before the Natchez-Vidalia Bridge, almost 100 miles to the north.