Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (USA) - longest water bridge in the world

The Causeway is the longest water bridge in the world.

It consists of two parallel bridges separated by 80 feet from each other, each of them has two roads. The northern part has a length of 23.87 miles, and the southern part is 23.86 miles.

Bridges are mounted on over 9,000 piles and are connected by 7 exits between them, for ambulances.

The name Lake Pontchatrain comes from the name of finance minister, Count de Pontchatrain, Louis XIV.

Every day, an average of 30,000 cars pass across the bridge. And in 1992, 8 million vehicles passed through the bridge.

The first span was built between 1955 and 1956 and opened on August 30, 1956. The construction of the bridge took 14 months and consumed $ 30,677,000. The second span was built in from 1967 to 1969 and opened on May 10, 1969. The construction of this part cost $ 29 887 174 and lasted 20 months.

All elements of the bridge were prefabricated in steel molds at the Louisiana Bridge Company's plant near Mandeville. Then they were assembled, loaded on shoulders and brought to the construction site on the lake.

In 1995, a building renovation project costing $ 79,000 was launched. The planned completion date is 2006.

Lake Pontchatrain is a single bridge, but it is possible that it is not for long, speculates on the construction of the next connection of the banks of the bay.