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Israel LaFleur Bridge

According to citypopulationreview.com, the Israel La Fleur Bridge, also known as the Calcasieu River Bridge or the Prien Lake Bridge, is a girder bridge in the United States, located at Lake Charles in Louisiana.

Characteristics

Spanning the Calcasieu River at the city of Lake Charles, the Israel LaFleur Bridge is a girder bridge approximately 2.6 kilometers in length. The main span is 260 meters long and the bridge deck is 43 meters above the river. Over the bridge runs Interstate 210 in Louisiana with 2×2 lanes. The bridge has no emergency lanes.

History

The bridge was built in the early 1960s and opened to traffic in 1962. It is the southernmost bridge over the Calcasieu River, although the bridge is still 50 kilometers north of its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico. The bridge is named after Israel LaFleur, one of the project’s key proponents. The bridge has withstood a number of strong hurricanes, including Hurricane Rita in 2006, the most powerful hurricane ever seen in the Gulf of Mexico. The main span of the bridge was renovated in 2019.

Traffic intensities

Traffic intensities on the bridge have fluctuated in the past, with 32,500 vehicles in 1996, 43,700 vehicles in 1999, 33,000 vehicles in 2001, 48,500 vehicles in 2004, 29,600 vehicles in 2007 and 54,600 vehicles in 2016. The intensities also depend on availability. from the bridge of I-10 over the Calcasieu River.

John James Audubon Bridge

The John James Audubon Bridge or simply the Audubon Bridge is a cable- stayed bridge in the United States, located in the state of Louisiana.

Characteristics

The Audubon Bridge spans the Mississippi River at St. Francisville, about 35 kilometers northwest of the capital Baton Rouge. It is a cable- stayed bridge, currently the largest in the United States, with a total length of 3,927 meters and a main span of 482 meters. The bridge pylons are 152 meters high and the free passage under the bridge is 40 meters. The part on the east bank in particular has a large number of bridges. Over the bridge runs State Route 10 in Louisiana with 2×2 lanes. Despite its size, the bridge is only of regional importance. The bridge is toll-free.

History

Previously, there were no fixed connections between Baton Rouge and Natchez for about 150 miles of river, only ferry services, including the Mississippi River at St. Francisville. The bridge was constructed between 2006 and 2011 and opened to traffic on May 5, 2011. When opened, it was the largest cable-stayed bridge in the United States and the Western Hemisphere. Due to the size of the bridge, the road has 2×2 lanes, but the connecting road sections are single lane with oncoming traffic. The bridge is built over one of the narrower points of the Mississippi River, where the river is just under 600 meters wide in the summer. Construction of the bridge cost $409 million. The bridge is named after John James Audubon (1785 – 1851), a French-American ornithologist.

Traffic intensities

In 2011, the year of opening, 3,100 vehicles crossed the bridge every day. This low number is because there are no major towns nearby and State Route 10 has no major through importance.

Luling Bridge

The Luling Bridge, also known as the Hale Boggs Memorial Bridge is a cable- stayed bridge in the United States, located near New Orleans in the state of Louisiana.

Characteristics

The Luling Bridge spans the Mississippi River west of New Orleans, between Destrehan and Luling. It is the westernmost span of the bridge in this region. The bridge has a total length of 3,261 meters, of which a significant part is over bridges, and a main span of 376 meters is via a cable- stayed bridge. The bridge deck is 48 meters above the river and, in addition to the river, also spans two roads on both banks and a railway line. The bridge is part of the short Interstate 310 in Louisiana and has 2×2 lanes. It is the only cable-stayed bridge in the region.

History

The bridge began construction in 1976 and opened to traffic on October 6, 1983, being only the third larger cable-stayed bridge in the United States at the time. Since 1993, the bridge became part of Interstate 310 and was the first cable-stayed bridge of the Interstate Highway system. The emergence of cable-stayed bridges in the United States was relatively late.

Traffic intensities

In 2010, 47,400 vehicles drove daily over the Luling Bridge, which is therefore not overloaded.

Sunshine Bridge

Not to be confused with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida.

The Sunshine Bridge is a cantilever truss bridge in the United States, located in the state of Louisiana. The bridge spans the Mississippi River.

Characteristics

The Sunshine Bridge is oriented east-west and spans the Mississippi River at Donaldsonville. The bridge has a total length of 2,510 meters, of which the main span is 251 meters. The bridge deck is up to 52 feet above the river and has 2×2 lanes of State Route 70. The bridge handles regional traffic south of the capital Baton Rouge. The bridge is toll-free.

History

The bridge was built in the first half of the 1960s and opened in August 1964. When it opened, the bridge did not yet connect to other roads and was called a “bridge to nowhere”, although the bridge later managed to shake off that image, nowadays the bridge is used fairly intensively for an underlying connection. The bridge was originally a toll road, the toll was removed in 2001.

Traffic intensities

In 2012, 22,000 vehicles crossed the bridge daily, a relatively high number given that larger towns are fairly far from the bridge, and it is mainly local and regional traffic that crosses the Mississippi River here. In 2000, when tolls were still levied, 13,000 vehicles used the bridge every day.