Huey P. Long Bridge (Baton Rouge)

This article is about a bridge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; a second Huey P. Long Bridge is in Jefferson Parish.

Huey P. Long Bridge
Huey P. Long Bridge from the northwest
Other name(s)	Old Bridge
Carries	4 lanes of US 190 1 Kansas City Southern rail line
Crosses	Mississippi River
Locale	Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Maintained by	Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development[citation needed]
ID number	611700071000001
Design	Cantilever truss bridge
Total length	5,879 feet (1,792 m)
Clearance below	113 feet (34 m)
Opened	August 1940
Daily traffic	17,300
Coordinates	30°30′25″N 91°11′51″W

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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} 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. [1] [2]

The bridge was once planned as part of an Interstate 410.

See also

• List of crossings of the Lower Mississippi River