.gif)
Huey P. Long Bridge (Baton Rouge)
Encyclopedia
The Huey P. Long Bridge is a truss
cantilever bridge
over the Mississippi River
carrying US 190 (Airline Highway
) and one rail
line between East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
and West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
.
The bridge is named after former Louisiana governor Huey P. Long. It is similar in design to the Huey P. Long Bridge
in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
. Its lanes are very narrow and it is extremely dangerous to inexperienced drivers during inclement weather as it has a tendency to ice and some passers-by question how well the guard railings would stand up if a vehicle were to hit them. Only one person is reported to have driven off the edges 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 he landed before his truck on the same spot. The scars from the accident can still be seen on the dock to one's right as approaching the east end of the eastbound span.
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 reassured the city that the bridge is not in any imminent danger. The bridge has been repainted several times since its construction, including in the mid-1960s when the bridge was repainted orange. The bridge was originally painted blue, but dust from the Kaiser Aluminum plant on the southeast bank of the river kept coating the bridge with aluminum-oxide (bauxite). Finally, the state gave up trying to keep the bridge blue, and went with the orange color of the dust.
http://southeastroads.com/us-190_la.html
http://www.johnweeks.com/lower_mississippi/pages/lmiss11.html
The bridge was once planned as part of an Interstate 410.
Truss
In architecture and structural engineering, a truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight members whose ends are connected at joints referred to as nodes. External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in...
cantilever bridge
Cantilever bridge
A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using cantilevers, structures that project horizontally into space, supported on only one end. For small footbridges, the cantilevers may be simple beams; however, large cantilever bridges designed to handle road or rail traffic use trusses built from...
over the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
carrying US 190 (Airline Highway
Airline Highway
Airline Highway is a divided highway in the U.S. state of Louisiana, built in the 1930s and 1940s to bypass the older Jefferson Highway. It carries U.S. Highway 61 from New Orleans northwest to Baton Rouge, and U.S. Highway 190 from Baton Rouge west over the Mississippi River on the Huey P. Long...
) and one rail
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
line between East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
East Baton Rouge Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Baton Rouge, Louisiana's state capital. As of the 2010 census, the population was 440,171. The parish has a total area of , of which is land and is water. It is the most populous parish in the state...
and West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
West Baton Rouge Parish is one of the sixty-four parishes in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and is the smallest in total area. The parish seat is Port Allen and as of 2010, the population was 23,788. The parish has a highly-rated school system and is one of the few in Louisiana that has privatized...
.
The bridge is named after former Louisiana governor Huey P. Long. It is similar in design to the Huey P. Long Bridge
Huey P. Long Bridge (Jefferson Parish)
The Huey P. Long Bridge 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 two lanes of US 90 on each side of the central tracks....
in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
Jefferson Parish is a parish in Louisiana, United States that includes most of the suburbs of New Orleans. The seat of parish government is Gretna....
. Its lanes are very narrow and it is extremely dangerous to inexperienced drivers during inclement weather as it has a tendency to ice and some passers-by question how well the guard railings would stand up if a vehicle were to hit them. Only one person is reported to have driven off the edges 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 he landed before his truck on the same spot. The scars from the accident can still be seen on the dock to one's right as approaching the east end of the eastbound span.
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 reassured the city that the bridge is not in any imminent danger. The bridge has been repainted several times since its construction, including in the mid-1960s when the bridge was repainted orange. The bridge was originally painted blue, but dust from the Kaiser Aluminum plant on the southeast bank of the river kept coating the bridge with aluminum-oxide (bauxite). Finally, the state gave up trying to keep the bridge blue, and went with the orange color of the dust.
http://southeastroads.com/us-190_la.html
http://www.johnweeks.com/lower_mississippi/pages/lmiss11.html
The bridge was once planned as part of an Interstate 410.