Mile 95.6 - Crescent City Connection - Greater New Orleans Bridge
95.6 Crescent City Connection - Greater New Orleans Bridge
The Crescent City Connection (Greater New Orleans Bridge) is a milestone for long distance paddlers: this is the very last bridge on the entire Mississippi River system. Congratulations paddler! After paddling under your first bridge below Lake Itasca (the 1st 3 bridges are actually footbridges -- very appropriate), and then under Minnesota Clearwater County 112, you have paddled under 100s of others in between from covered bridges to swing bridges, from concrete slab to steel truss, from cable-stay to suspension. The bridges of the Mississippi River could be an architectural study in of itself. You’ve seen them all, and paddled under them all. 100s of bridges in 2,000 miles to reach your last bridge, and here it is, within sight of the the St. Louis Cathedral and Jax Brewery rising out of the French Quarter. There is no safe landing anywhere underneath. Watch for river traffic, as it gets concentrated here to pass under one of the two open spans, with endless dredge work seemingly going on just downstream of the bridge along the East Bank.
The Crescent City Connection is a classic Continuous Steel Truss Bridge that supports 8 lanes of auto/truck traffic, plus 2 reversible HOV lanes. Not surprisingly, it is one of the busiest bridges on the Lower Miss, with a daily traffic count of 64,612 (2003). There are two different bridges built 29 years apart. The southbound span was built first, and the northbound span was added three decades later just downstream of the older structure. While the two spans are the same length, and look similar, closer inspection shows significant differences. Some of these differences include the new span being wider, T shaped piers on the newer span, a truss deck section on the older span, and more welding (in place of bolting) on the newer span. The older span was the longest continuous truss bridge in the world when it opened. The 3,019 foot long truss superstructure and 1,575 foot long main span still rate as some of largest continuous truss bridges on the planet. (John Weeks)
A dark chapter for the Crescent City Connection bridges happened during the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Gretna Police Chief Arthur Lawson blocked the south end of these bridges to prevent the thirsty, starving, and dying people of New Orleans from sharing the stockpiles of supplies that were located in Gretna. Chief Lawson even fired machines guns at the crowd and turned dogs loose on people who had no food or water for days. Nearly 2,000 people died in the disaster, many less than 2,000 feet from safety. Since most of the citizens in distress were African-American, and Chief Lawson is white, many have accused Lawson of being a racist. (John Weeks)