Mississippi River Bridges: Southern Louisiana

[@DNSKansas]

After this video was made, the John James Audubon Bridge opened about 45 miles north of Baton Rouge. It's a cable-stayed bridge which spans the river between Pointe Coupee and West Feliciana parishes. Prior to the opening of the bridge, the next bridge upriver from Baton Rouge was in Natchez, Miss.

[@mermaidknows]

Thanks for making these videos Jim. They are a huge help in helping me to overcome my fear of driving over bridges especially the ones with big inclines upward. :)

[@Freewayjim]

@prfsnlwannabe Thanks. Check the second Baton Rouge Video (US-190) a train was just coming up the bridge as we were coming down. I did not film the I-10 Bridge you mentioned, the eastbound span was just about finished, very nice.

[@DNSKansas]

The two bridges between New Orleans and Baton Rouge that Freewayjim skipped are basically carbon copies, although the bridge at Gramercy has shoulders, and the Sunshine does not. They are both canteliver truss spans. They both dead-end in sugarcane fields.

[@TheFishdoctor1952]

Only the Gramercy bridge is the bridge to nowhere.

[@davidtaylor8787]

This video was the bomb 🔥 Love the song that goes with it! 👍

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you!

[@MrJamesgrate]

Wow, that was awesome! My normal procedure is to view your video and write a heart felt comment, commending the various highway structures and bridges while it is still fresh in my memory. This one I had to watch again, just to absorb all of the exciting information. I love that you made it so easy for a guy like me to understand the road map and (5) various bridges you were going to drive, and the icing on the cake was your musical choice, (just an illusion), you knocked this one out the park, (home run)!!!!!!!!! GVJ!!!!!!!!

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you James, I love that song too!

[@kixx_thelouisianianfurry]

Also went to the I-310 one fourth time seeing the I-310 bridge. Thanks Freewayjim

[@petrofilmeurope]

A very good video, thank you - I passed over the Huey P Long Bridge from Huston to New York with Amtrac in 1994.

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you!

[@fayeslover]

Driving video in my home state with a bumpin soundtrack...what more could I ask for?

[@winnon992]

I remember crossing this bridge years ago. Crossing when a train was also crossing you could feel the bridge trembling and shaking. Kinda neat I guess.

[@jakedrago7805]

Crossing old Huey brought back memories ,many not fun crossing that narrow span in heavy traffic.today it’s a whole new bridge other than rail line

[@Freewayjim]

You are very welcome! I hear ya on the bridges with big inclines, I meet some streets in SF that are so steep that they make some bridge inclines look like ant hills and it really spooked me out. You can do it!

[@PopLightBrown]

Cool video. Maybe next time you'll do the Sunshine Bridge (La. 70) and the Veterans (Gramercy) Bridge...both over the Mississippi.

[@504RoadTrips]

I'm glad to see you got the Westbank traffic circle at the Huey P Long Bridge. I just posted a 2012 video of the bridge and the traffic circle was already gone.

[@Freewayjim]

Thanks, I re-shot that area in 2015. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXjPgZilmbdle5I

[@DNSKansas]

When the original Greater New Orleans Bridge opened in 1958, there were tolls. John McKeithen campaigned for governor in 1963-64 on a pledge to remove them, which he did at the end of 1964. The tolls were put on the new bridge (going into New Orleans) in early 1989.

[@georgiaroadgeek]

Damn, I loved both the ride *and* the grooves! Awesome, Jim!!!

[@Freewayjim]

Thanks, No I was in SF-Oakland in June and it was not opened yet, I have no idea when I'll be back out that way with filming gear, could be years if ever.

[@DNSKansas]

The Hale Boggs Bridge replaced a ferry. In 1976, the ferry was operated by a drunken pilot who guided the boat right into the path of a tanker. The tanker sliced the ferry in two and capsized the smaller boat. 78 people died. The bridge was already planned at the time, but the ferry disaster sped construction.

[@teawells964]

I'm a bus driver and this is one of the coolest videos I've ever seen on yotube! Thank you for doing this!

[@tdubblz]

It’s much less scary to cross the Huey P now that the construction is finished.

[@CheeseMasterSports]

Hi. By the way, they finished the work on the Huey P. Long in New Orleans. I got to go on it over the summer.

[@expresswayjess]

Damn, you have a knack for finding the right music for a vid. Awesome.

[@dgx9994]

Jim it's a sixth bridge the Veterans Memorial Biridge that crosses in Lutcher and Gramercy

[@jakedrago7805]

The Huey Baton Rouge Is always referred to by locals as Old Bridge and some jokingly even called it the Earl K Long bridge after Hueys little brother the I-10 crossing is referred to as New Bridge .

[@JeffreyB1983]

Amazing how much of our infrastructure was built during FDR's New Deal. Everywhere you go there are great structures from the 1930s.

[@ticotechhouston4917]

Thanks to the republican party

[@ticotechhouston4917]

The Senate shot down another piece of President Obama’s $447 billion jobs bill Thursday, as a stalemated Congress goes through the motions of attempting legislation to spur economic growth largely as a mechanism to allow each party to blame the other for the failure to act. The chamber failed to advance a measure to spend $50 billion on highway, rail, transit and airport improvements and another $10 billion as seed money for an infrastructure bank designed to spark private investment in construction. The vote was 51 to 49 in favor, but the measure needed 60 votes to proceed to a full debate. The failure came in advance of a jobs report due out Friday morning that will show the trajectory of the job market in the final quarter of the year. So far, there are signs that employers are shrugging off the ill effects of Europe’s troubles and volatile financial markets and are continuing to hire at a gradual pace. The September unemployment report relieved concerns about massive waves of layoffs, and last week the Commerce Department said the economy grew at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the summer months, its fastest clip in a year. The Labor Department also reported Thursday that the number of people filing new claims for unemployment insurance benefits fell last week to 397,000, from a revised 406,000 the previous week. That was the lowest level in five weeks. Also Thursday, a survey from the Institute for Supply Management on activity at the nation’s service businesses was little changed, at 52.9 in October compared with 53 in September. Numbers above 50 indicate expansion.

[@annakatewilson5822]

Redpoint Apartment Locations Are: Starkville MS, San Marcos TX, West Lafayette IN, Baton Rouge LA, Tuscaloosa AL, Tallahassee FL, And Chattanooga TN.

[@StukInBuf]

When I lived in NOLA in 1979/80, they didn't have tolls on the Crescent City Bridge yet(I recall the lanes/booths were in process of being made)... and a gubernatorial candidate at the time(Lambert) made this his campaign pledge, "NO BRIDGE TOLLS!" At least it's not $5 or $6 like the NYC area bridge/tunnel crossings...

[@Freewayjim]

Because it just felt right compared to the other songs I was testing. I usually test several songs with the footage to see how they interact with each other and this one worked the best.

[@pizzasubs]

Fantastic video, and speaking of bridges, you are going to do a video of the new span of the Oakland Bay Bridge when it opens, Right..Thanks.......

[@Freewayjim]

@PelicanGuy Probably not, those are well off the beaten path for me, unless of course I have extended time to explore the area.

[@debowh]

Love that song sounds like a good traveling song

[@RoyalGrigsby]

The first time I drove the Huey bridge in NO I couldn't even tell it was four lanes. There I was, driving right in the middle because I was so freaking scared of being on this crazy looking thing.

[@RobdaVegasMailman]

I've driven over it in fog. THAT is scary!

[@debowh]

@StukInBuf wasnt it two lane traffic on the old span at one point? I was born in 84 and slightly remember the new span still being constructed and seeing 2 red towers with cables attached to it

[@Freewayjim]

@RoyalGrigsby I know what you mean, I was surprised at how tight it was as well. The footage in this video was my first time crossing it.

[@Prostyles25]

real good video and great quality but what about the veterans memorial bridge (LA 3213) that connects gramercy to vacherie and the sunshine bridge(LA 70) that connects sorrento to donaldsonville?????????????

[@HoltCalifornia]

You think they might expand the US 90 Business bridge to 5 lanes? It looked pretty congested.

[@Freewayjim]

@0marigolds -Thank you, it was a fun project to work on, love that song too.

[@SteveCarras]

Freewayjim good song

[@Freewayjim]

@eluko79 Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. That's a neat factoid about the northern most bridge :)

[@Freewayjim]

@HoltCalifornia Not really, too much cost involved to add one lane there.

[@Freewayjim]

@adrienneboland830 Thank you! That being the case look for the video I'll be releasing on Thursday :)

[@falaqdad15]

I'd like for you to drive over the new John James Audobon Bridge on LA-10 if you get the chance

[@lray1948]

I wonder how they handle the traffic on the two "rerversible lanes" of the newer Downtown bridge.On bridges of this sort the exits and onramps are usually designed to accommodate traffic going only 1 way. I'll have to notice next time I drive over when in NO

[@DNSKansas]

You betcha Jim. I lived in New Orleans and Baton Rouge before moving to Kansas. I drove the two bridges in Baton Rouge and the Hale Boggs many times. I drove the Huey Long in Jefferson Parish once. I vowed never again. You want to talk about white knuckles. I don't know of one person who liked that bridge before the widening.

[@TheFishdoctor1952]

The old Hwy 190 in north Baton Rouge WAS a white knuckler before it was widened also.

[@RobdaVegasMailman]

I used to drive the Huey daily back in the mid 80's. If it served no other purpose, it was the best deterrent to drinking and driving ever. )

[@Freewayjim]

@boduke70 LOL, it was in the low-mid 90's when I shot all that footage, crazy weather!

[@mutt1256]

Awesome video

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you! I take a lot of pride in that.

[@Freewayjim]

@reiltations -Thank you, it's definitely an interesting area.

[@StukInBuf]

@debowh Yep... two lanes each side on the old bridge.

[@zachwatson319]

I have done this one before. One of my lesser favorite parts of the USA. The bridges are cool though. I'm driving from Houston - New Orleans in two days.

[@wlduhe]

There are two other bridges between BR and NO.

[@lakebay972]

Somebody's been listening to Sirius XM because you don't hear that song everyday on terrestrial, multi-commercial, short-playlist FM radio.

[@Freewayjim]

@georgiaroadgeek Thanks Steve, much appreciated!

[@Freewayjim]

Interesting facts, I did not know that, thanks!

[@Freewayjim]

I don't know that I "liked" that bridge but it was extremely interesting.

[@Freewayjim]

@Bryant5493 Thanks Bryant!

[@looneytunes9000]

thanks for this great video!

[@Freewayjim]

@looneytunes9000 You're welcome!

[@tpringtowery4178]

interstate 310 at night some lights are not working.

[@Freewayjim]

@uptownbronze Thanks UB!

[@Freewayjim]

@lakebay972 Honestly, I'm old enough to remember when that song came out and I've liked it since, but I do listen to XM too :)

[@jordanjack3093]

what is the song

[@Freewayjim]

Thanks, I didn't go over or anywhere near that bridge.

[@1995bisquick]

They have to replace all the cables on the Hale boggs bridge due to a plastic coating deteriorating sooner than they anticipated. This led to the cables corroding.

[@writer125]

The video looked great. A great perspectiive on all the bridges around here. The music was alright, would have preferred some New Orleans music, but unfortunately, thats neither here nor there.

[@Freewayjim]

Yes it is, and I have in on film as well :)

[@tpringtowery4178]

freewayjim u know about I-74 ast

[@annakatewilson5822]

PaulFan Says: I Watched Guru/Spin Master/Nick (2019) On That TV At Redpoint Apartments In Starkville MS Near Sprint Mart Gas Station And Mississippi State University's Campus!

[@SteveCarras]

Two Huey p long bridges one from 1940 and the other one from 1935 (the one that I know)? Fascinating video nonetheless.

[@brs793]

There's one in Shreveport too.

[@tpringtowery4178]

freewayjim u know about I-74 east

[@uptownbronze]

Man, this is going in my faves! Enuff said. UB

[@miamivicepastels83]

that bridge at 4:10 TIGHT

[@SteveCarras]

I think this bridge is featured in the new movie kidnap with Halle Berry

[@Freewayjim]

@StukInBuf Try $8, 10 & 12 on NYC Crossings now :(

[@matthewtobias6227]

This Video Does Not Include Ferrys

[@Freewayjim]

It's not supposed to cover EVERY crossing or ferries (whatever gave you the idea that it would?), just the bridges I had on video.

[@matthewtobias6227]

@@Freewayjim I Saw You Recent Video And I Noticed You Changed You Intro From Downtown Atlanta To The High 5 Interchange In Dallas

[@Freewayjim]

@@matthewtobias6227 I've changed the intro footage several times over the years.

[@matthewtobias6227]

@@Freewayjim Have You Heard Of 504 Road Trips Or Roadwaywiz

[@Freewayjim]

@@matthewtobias6227 Yes I have

[@tpringtowery4178]

What 4:10

[@Freewayjim]

No I didn't, they don't cross the Mississippi River.

[@yesseniavillegas2ndaccount410]

I see a railroad crossing

[@yessev82]

I see railroad crossing

[@yesseniavillegas2ndaccount410]

Keep the video

[@nickefraser6413]

not drew again!

[@jordanjack3093]

oh it is just an illusion

[@Alexrayoh]

I didn’t been to Louisiana you been to the Arkansas and Memphis Tennessee, Tennessee and West Memphis bridge

[@Freewayjim]

Yes I have there are videos of them somewhere, just do a search for Memphis on this channel.