The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is the longest continuous bridge over water in the world, stretching 38.35 km and supported by approximately 9,500 concrete pilings.
When the city of New Orleans, Louisiana (USA) expanded its administrative boundaries in the 1940s and 1950s, traveling north from the city became a challenge for residents. Those commuting from downtown to the north or vice versa faced a significant obstacle in crossing Lake Pontchartrain – the largest freshwater lake in Louisiana.
Driving east or west around the lake was a time-consuming journey. Therefore, city officials soon planned to create the shortest route to facilitate transportation for the citizens. The quickest solution was to construct a bridge that would go straight across the lake.
Lake Pontchartrain located in New Orleans, Louisiana (USA)
In 1955, the Louisiana Bridge Company was established to undertake the construction of this “bridge of the century.” It took only 14 months for the company to complete the straight bridge with two lanes. The Pontchartrain Bridge was officially inaugurated in 1956, with a total length of 38.39 km.
The bridge is so long that drivers cannot see land if they travel approximately 12.8 km. Many drivers have experienced a sudden case of “frozen fear” due to fear of water, and police had to escort them for the remaining distance. There have even been instances where newborns were delivered on this highway when their mothers could not wait to reach the hospital on the other side. Notably, there was a case where a plane ran out of fuel and made a safe landing on the bridge.
The bridge is so long that drivers cannot see land.
Inauguration of the Second Bridge
A decade after the first bridge was inaugurated, daily traffic on the bridge exceeded 5,300 vehicles. Authorities planned to construct a second bridge running parallel to the original one. It was inaugurated in 1969, just 25 meters apart from the first bridge and only 25 meters longer.
The impressive statistics surrounding the bridge caught the attention of the Guinness World Records. The Pontchartrain Bridge was officially recognized as the longest bridge over water in the world, a record it held until 2011.
The Pontchartrain Bridge becomes the longest bridge over water (measured by continuous length).
In July 2011, the Guinness World Records announced that the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in China, completed recently, is now the longest bridge over water in the world, with a total length of 42.6 km.
In 2018, this record was again claimed by China with the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, which is 55 km long. However, many people expressed concerns and pointed out that these are not bridges entirely over water, as their structures include tunnels beneath the sea.
This controversy led the Guinness World Records to establish two clearer categories. Accordingly, the Pontchartrain Bridge became the longest continuous bridge over water. While the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge became the longest bridge over water (measured by total length).
Since then, the bridge over Lake Pontchartrain has maintained its status as the longest continuous bridge over water in the world for over 60 years since the completion of its first section.
