A Sightseer's Guide to EngineeringNational Society of Professional EngineersNational Engineer's Week
 


Since the first span of this divided-highway opened in 1956, traffic volume has grown from approximately 3,000 vehicles per day to more than 3,500 vehicles during a peak hour.


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© 2010 NSPE. A Sightseer's Guide to Engineering | Disclaimer | Contact: Stacey Ober, pr@nspe.org, at 703-684-2815
LOUISIANA Printable version
Lake Pontchartrain Causeway
Causeway Boulevard
Mandeville, LA 70471
Causeway Information Radio 1610 am
Web Site
Take a drive along the Causeway. The toll-road is so long that, for 8 miles, you can't see land.  
Hours of Operation: Open 24 hours, weather and traffic permitting. Need a map?
Consisting of parallel, 24-mile-long spans, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is the world's longest overwater highway bridge and one of the oldest prestressed concrete bridges built in the U.S. Engineers loaded the bridge pieces on barges and towed them to construction points on the lake. The twin bridges are supported by more than 9,500 hollow-cylinder pilings approximately 55 inches in diameter; the largest piles ever driven at the time of the first span's construction in 1955. Since the second span opened to the public in 1969, a drawbridge has been added, along with a tracking device to detect approaching barges during foggy conditions.
 
Who Made It: Original design and supervision of construction: Palmer and Baker Inc. Construction was performed by the Louisiana Bridge Company, a corporation formed by Brown & Root of Houston and the T.L. James Company of Ruston.
 
Photo Credit: Courtesy Lake Pontchartrain Causeway