Metairie, Louisiana.

The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway bridges are a pair of parallel bridges that cross Lake Pontchartrain in southeastern Louisiana, United States. The longer of the two bridges is 23.83 miles (38.35 km) long, making it the longest continuous bridge over water in the world. The southern terminus of the causeway is in Metairie, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans, and the northern terminus is in Mandeville, Louisiana.

The causeway bridges were built in the 1950s and 1960s to provide a direct connection between New Orleans and the North Shore. Prior to the construction of the causeway, the only way to travel between the two shores was by ferry or by driving around the lake, which added about an hour to the journey.

There are seven crossovers on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, spaced approximately 3.5 miles (5.6 km) apart. The crossovers are meant to be for emergency stopping only. Crossovers are important safety features on the two bridges. They allow drivers to pull off the road if they experience a problem, such as a flat tire or a mechanical failure. The crossovers also provide a safe place for emergency vehicles to stop and respond to incidents.

If you ever need to use a crossover on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, be sure to pull over completely and turn on your hazard lights. There are also areas along the spans on the right side for emergency stops. There are no places for sightseers to pull off to take photos. All of these images were captured by my cellphone as we transited the northbound bridge.

Even at six miles (9.6 km), the north shore of the lake is all but invisible on the horizon. The speed limit is 65 MPH, and at that rate, it took us about 25 minutes to cross the causeway.

The causeway bridges are supported by over 9,000 concrete piles that are driven into the bottom of the lake. The bridges are made up of a series of prefabricated concrete slabs that were barged out to the construction site and assembled using a floating crane.

This view through the windshield shows that the bridges have tall sections that allow larger boats to pass underneath. If you click on the image to view it in Flickr, you can see one of the crossovers between the two bridges.

I experimented with some images captured from through the windshield of the Chevy Suburban we were in. I was seated in the rear seat behind the driver when I captured this image between the front seats. I used a new feature in Photoshop to create this panorama. I will fill you in on the details in the upcoming Cellpic Sunday. In the meantime, you can get a view of all these images in 2K HD on my Flickr site here.

John Steiner