If you find yourself traveling through Baton Rouge, Louisiana, you only have two ways to cross the Mississippi river. One is the Horace Wilkinson Bridge at Interstate 10, the other is the Huey P. Long Bridge at US Highway 190.

Neither bridge is for the faint of heart. The Huey P. Long Bridge, which you can see in this gallery, is a massive truss cantilever structure built in 1940 that carries both road traffic and railroad tracks. The railroad track section of the superstructure extends far beyond the bridge itself.

The bridge and its name are a bit of an oddity as there are two Huey P. Long bridges in Louisiana. This one in Baton Rouge and another one close to New Orleans in Jefferson Parish, both bridges are of similar design.

Crossing the bridge does not inspire a lot of confidence. There are two roadway lanes in each direction with railroad tracks in the middle. The roadway is narrow and the guardrail separating the road from the depths of the Mississippi river 113 ft (34 m) below. The trains that use the bridge are huge, slow multi-engine freight trains that add further strain to an old structure.

The city tried for years to paint the bridge blue, but a nearby aluminum plant kept coating it in the red dust of aluminum oxide so they just threw up their arms and now paint it orange. On the downside this makes the bridge look far rustier than it probably is. But I wouldn’t be so sure, the structure is in serious disrepair and the foundations have cracks.

Read more about the Huey P. Long Bridge at Wikipedia >>

Horace Wilkinson Bridge

The Horace Wilkinson Bridge or "New Bridge" is of the cantilever variety. The approach on I10 is pretty straightforward, the roadway is old but decent enough, and the highway is in on a wide curve that permits a good line of sight. Then, as you approach the bridge three lanes turn into four on a curve that splits I10 and I110 which goes north into downtown Baton Rouge and beyond.

The road was built in the 1960’s when there was a lot less traffic, the signaling is poor and trucks often block signs, so if you are unfamiliar with the area you will not have a lot of time to react whether to take the two lanes to the left towards the bridge or the two towards the right towards Baton Rouge. The area is notorious for huge backups and slowdowns.

The approach to the bridge is a sudden elevated “S” curve where the speed limit is 35 mph (56 kph), which no one respects, then the highway continues elevated towards the bridge, along the way you’ll encounter two entrance ramps coming from Baton Rouge with traffic merging into the already congested three westbound lanes.

There is a pretty pronounced climb towards the top of the bridge which peaks at 175 ft (53 m) with the Mississippi below. There are three lanes in each direction which are somewhat narrow that have none too reassuring guardrails consisting of what appear to be pipes separating traffic from the depths of the river below. There are no emergency lanes or walkways, a flat tire or a breakdown on the bridge could well be the worst moment of your life. Nevertheless, this entire massive superstructure is quite impressive, it is over 14,000 ft (4,000 m) in length.

Read more about the Horace Wilkinson Bridge at Wikipedia >>