Huey P. Long Bridge | |
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%2c_on_14_December_2021.jpg) Huey P. Long Bridge from the southwest | |
| Coordinates | 30°30′25″N91°11′51″W / 30.50694°N 91.19750°W /30.50694; -91.19750 |
| Carries | 4 lanes of US 1901Canadian Pacific Kansas City rail line |
| Crosses | Mississippi River |
| Locale | Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Official name | Huey P. Long - O.K. Allen Bridge |
| Other name | Old Bridge |
| Maintained by | Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development[1] |
| ID number | 611700071000001 |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Cantilevertruss bridge |
| Total length | 5,879 feet (1,792 m) |
| Width | 47.9 feet (15 m) |
| Longest span | 747.8 feet (228 m) |
| Clearance below | 113 feet (34 m) |
| History | |
| Construction cost | $8.4 million[2] |
| Opened | August 1940 |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 26,000 |
| Toll | None |
| Location | |
 Interactive map of Huey P. Long Bridge | |
TheHuey P. Long - O.K. Allen Bridge (locally known as theOld Bridge) is atrusscantilever bridge over theMississippi River carryingUS 190 (Airline Highway) and onerail line betweenEast Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana andWest Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.
Although the bridge is named after former Louisiana governorsHuey P. Long andOscar K. Allen, it is known locally in the Baton Rouge Area as "the old bridge".[3]
It was the only bridge across the Mississippi in Baton Rouge from its opening until April 1968, when theHorace Wilkinson Bridge ("the new bridge") carryingInterstate 10 opened. Until 2011, when theJohn James Audubon Bridge opened betweenSt. Francisville andNew Roads, it was the last bridge crossing the Mississippi before theNatchez-Vidalia Bridge, almost 100 miles to the north.
The bridge is similar in design to theHuey P. Long Bridge inJefferson Parish, Louisiana (until the downstream bridge was widened to six lanes in 2013). Its lanes are narrow and during cold weather, it has a tendency to ice over.
Due to the low height of the bridge, Baton Rouge is the furthest inland port on the Mississippi River that can accommodate ocean-goingtankers andcargo carriers. The ships transfer their cargo (grain, oil, cars, containers) at Baton Rouge onto rails and pipelines (to travel east–west) or barges (to travel north). In addition, the river depth decreases significantly just to the north, nearPort Hudson.[4]
The bridge itself is currently in a poor state of repair; the girder foundations on both railroad approach spans are beginning to show hairline cracks, but engineers have assured the city that the bridge is not in any imminent danger.[3]
The bridge has been repainted several times since its construction, including in the mid-1960s when the bridge was repainted orange; this was done to match the color of dust being emitted by theKaiser Aluminum plant on the southeast bank of the river, which continually coated the bridge with aluminum oxide (bauxite) dust.[5][6] It was widened in 1989, and again repainted between 2014 and 2016 to its original color of light gray.[7][8]
The bridge was once planned as part of anInterstate 410.
Only one person is reported to have driven off the edge of the bridge. In 1945, a cargo truck driver headed eastbound careened off the sides. The driver fell through the windshield and was crushed on a dock as his truck landed on top of him.[3] The scars from the accident can still be seen on the dock to one's right approaching the east end of the eastbound span.
The bridge is featured in a scene in the 1982Richard Pryor film,The Toy.
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Crossings of theMississippi River | ||||
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