Huey P. Long Bridge (Jefferson Parish)
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.
Huey P. Long Bridge | |
|---|---|
The Huey Long Bridge in 2007, when widening work had just begun. | |
| Coordinates | 29°56′39″N 90°10′08″W |
| Carries | US 90 and New Orleans Public Belt Railroad |
| Crosses | Mississippi River |
| Locale | Jefferson Parish, Louisiana |
| Maintained by | New Orleans Public Belt Railroad |
| ID number | 022600060100001 |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Cantilever truss bridge |
| Total length | 8,076 feet (2,462 m) (road) 22,996 feet (7,009 m) (rail) |
| Longest span | 790 feet (241 m) |
| Clearance below | 153 feet (47 m) |
| No. of lanes | 6 |
| Rail characteristics | |
| No. of tracks | 2 |
| History | |
| Construction cost | $13.4 million (equivalent to $234 million in 2023 dollars) |
| Opened | December 1935 (widened June 2013) |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 43,000 (2008) 18.9 trains per day (as of 2014) |
| Location | |
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."