The Longest Bridge Near New Orleans Has A Truly Fascinating Backstory

The bridge opened in 1956, but the idea for the bridge had been swirling about since the early 19th century when Bernard de Marigny (the founder of Mandeville) had the idea and began a ferry service that operated well into the mid-1930s.

The first draft of the proposal included creating artificial islands over the lake that would link a series of bridges together. The plan was to also build houses on these islands for people to purchase, which would help fund the project.

Ernest M. Loeb Jr. began lobbying for the project, creating the Louisiana Legislature, which is now known as the Causeway Commission. The Louisiana Bridge Company was formed to construct the bridge, and construction began.

It opened to the public in 1956, and many of you may remember these days. Pretty narrow, nowhere to pull over, and dangerous if you happened to catch a flat or have a breakdown… it was a white-knuckle drive for sure!

The first bridge cost $46 million and the second bridge came in at $30 million.

For many years, you’d have to pay a toll ($1.50 each way) on both sides of the bridge. To help with the congestion on the south shore, the tolls in Metairie were removed in 1999 and adjusted to pay $3 on the Northshore side. In 2017, the toll was increased to $5 to help fund improvements to the bridge.

And we wore that badge proudly! In 2011, the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in China was built and stripped us of our title. It became quite the controversy, as the bridge in China goes over land at some parts, while the Causeway does not. It was determined that while China’s bridge runs for a total of 26.5 miles, it spans water for only 16.1 miles, while the Causeway spans 23.79 miles, continuously over water. A clear winner, right? Well the folks at Guinness decided to create two categories to make everyone happy. The Causeway holds the title of being the longest bridge over water (continuous) while the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge is the longest bridge over water (aggregate).