Rating:
4 votes

Huey P. Long Bridge (Jefferson Parish)

Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
Share:

Photos 

Approaching the bridge below the south rail approach

Photo taken by Nathan Morton in July 2010

Enlarge

Map 

Street Views 

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Cantilevered through truss bridge over the Mississippi River on US 90 in Jefferson
Location
Bridge City, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
Status
Open to traffic
History
Opened to traffic December 16, 1935
Builder
- Ralph Modjeski of Bochnia, Poland (Chief Engineer)
Design
Cantilevered through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 790.0 ft.
Total length: 22,996.0 ft. (4.4 mi.)
Deck width: 36.1 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+29.94500, -90.16833   (decimal degrees)
29°56'42" N, 90°10'06" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/773314/3316063 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
New Orleans West
Inventory number
BH 19034 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 12/2007)
Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Very Good (8 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Very Good (8 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 33.2 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2011 22051)
45,600

Categories 

Bridge City, Louisiana (1)
Built 1935 (1,456)
Built during 1930s (8,552)
Cantilevered (242)
Cantilevered truss (222)
Have street view (9,909)
Historic Civil Engineering Landmark (41)
Jefferson Parish, Louisiana (10)
Louisiana (519)
Mississippi River (155)
Navigable waterway (1,449)
 Open (28,322)
Over a mile long (192)
Owned by state (9,811)
Ralph Modjeski (27)
Skewed (4,081)
Span length 500-1000 feet (313)
Structurally deficient (16,686)
Through truss (9,212)
Total length over 2500 feet (587)
Truss (23,578)
US 90 (36)

Update Log 

  • December 12, 2012: New photo from Jared Mixson
  • October 15, 2012: New photo from Jared Mixson
  • September 19, 2012: New photo from Jared Mixson
  • February 2, 2012: Updated by James Baughn: Designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark
  • July 10, 2010: New photo from Nathan Morton
  • July 8, 2010: New photos from Nathan Morton
  • April 19, 2010: New Street View added by Nathan Holth

Sources 

  • Wikipedia
  • Nathan Holth
  • Nathan Morton - morton890 [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • James Baughn - webmaster [at] bridgehunter [dot] com
  • Jared Mixson
Post a comment here
Contact webmaster

Comments 

Huey P. Long Bridge (Jefferson Parish)
Posted September 20, 2012, by Brad Smith (gaberdine [at] hotmail [dot] com)

http://www.timedla.com/bridge/long/overview/

Is a discussion and notes page for the widening of this bridge. It is a unique widening of the truss structure while the bridge remains open.

Really a neat concept

Huey P. Long Bridge (Jefferson Parish)
Posted February 3, 2012, by Dan Crawford

The middle cantilevered span is fascinating. I have not noticed one like it before.

Huey P. Long Bridge (Jefferson Parish)
Posted November 20, 2010, by Clark Vance (cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com)

An engineering description of the project:

http://www.modernsteel.com/Uploads/Issues/September_2010/092010_Sep10_SBN_Huey_web.pdf

Mainly a railroad bridge, the auto lanes were 1930s 18 foot with pipe railing. It was a pretty exciting motorcycle ride: massive steel and perhaps a train along one side and barely anything between you and the river far below on the other side.

Huey P. Long Bridge (Jefferson Parish)
Posted July 12, 2010, by D. W. Adams (weetbixmarmite [at] yahoo [dot] com)

Their renderings seem to show that they're taking great care to copy the existing design in the expansion, right down to the beam stylings and cross-lacing. Is this true? It seems to me that they expect the structure to last forever as rarely do I see anyone make such a large investment to remodel an existing bridge (especially one 75 years old!) in favor of new construction! Then again, rail bridges do seem to last nearly forever just because of how their built and the matter-of-fact way in which rail companies keep them maintained.

Huey P. Long Bridge (Jefferson Parish)
Posted July 10, 2010, by Todd (mrwalk08 [at] aol [dot] com)

This bridge is going through a dramatic transformation to say the least. Trusses added to the roadways, makes awesome sense. Will be a neat crossing once it is all done.

Huey P. Long Bridge (Jefferson Parish)
Posted April 19, 2010, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

This is an incredible bridge! Adding some Street Views to show this.

Huey P. Long Bridge (Jefferson Parish)
Posted March 13, 2010, by Brad Smith (bwana39 [at] yahoo [dot] com)

http://www.timedla.com/bridge/long/overview/

Huey P. Long Bridge
Posted November 26, 2006, by Cajundweeb (cajundweeb [at] gmail [dot] com)

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development is currently undertaking a project to widen the vehicular lanes on the span. The project will take a while, so if you need to cross via the Huey P Long bridge, exercise caution while they work on it!

Huey P. Long Bridge
Posted May 4, 2006, by Harvey Henkelman

Longest railroad bridge in the US