Even experienced drivers and motorists are scared to cross this bridge.

The remarkable technical feat known as the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana went down in history in 1969 when it was formally recognised as the world’s longest bridge across water by Guinness World Records.

The causeway has proudly maintained this status for more than 60 years, navigating obstacles and disputes in the process.

Constructed in reaction to the escalating traffic requirements of New Orleans during the 1940s and 1950s, the causeway’s initial two-lane segment was finished in an astounding 14 months, ushering in its public debut in 1956, encompassing a total distance of 23.86 miles

Its sheer length causes cars to lose sight of land for eight miles, an experience that has occasionally caused drivers to become afraid of the sea.

The causeway has seen some amazing things over the years, including infants being delivered on its length as a result of premature hospital arrivals and an aeroplane that managed to safely land on the bridge after running out of fuel over Lake Pontchartrain.

Plans to enlarge the causeway were started ten years after the first bridge was completed, when daily traffic topped 5,300 automobiles. A second two-lane span was erected in 1969, around 84 feet apart from the first.

The causeway was able to formally secure the Guinness World Record for the longest bridge over water as a result of this expansion. f

But in 2011, a competitor with a 26.5-mile total length—China’s Jiaozhou Bay Bridge—rose to prominence. Although the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway appeared to be in danger of losing its title, there was disagreement over Guinness’s criteria, which included concrete buildings like land bridges and an underwater tunnel in its calculations—infrastructure that are not actually “over water.”

Guinness created two additional categories in order to settle the dispute. The Jiaozhou Bay Bridge emerged as the “longest bridge over water (aggregate)” and the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway as the “longest bridge over water (continuous).”

The world’s longest bridge that spans water continuously is still the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, despite other bridges having taken the title in the past, such the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge in 2018.

Travellers who cross the causeway between Mandeville, on the northern banks of Lake Pontchartrain, and the Metairie suburb of New Orleans are always in awe of this incredible technical achievement.

Tolls total $5 in cash and $3 for tags used with the electronic toll collection system. They are solely collected on the north shore for southbound traffic.

At the 16.0-mile marker, a bascule drawbridge makes it easier for river traffic to pass beneath the causeway, further contributing to its history as a timeless representation of inventiveness.