Crescent City Connection
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Crescent City Connection refers to twin cantilever bridges, one opened in 1958 and the other opened in 1988, that carry a business route of U.S. Highway 90 over the Mississippi River in New Orleans, Louisiana. Each span carries four general-use automobile lanes and two HOV lanes across the river. The westbound span, which carries motorists into the Central Business District on the Eastbank, requires a toll.
The Crescent City Connection was so named by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development in 1989. It is maintained and policed by the Crescent City Connection Division, a special division of the DOTD.
After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, with the destruction of Interstate 10's Twin Spans over Lake Pontchartrain, flooding of the west side of I-10, and slight damage to the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, the Crescent City Connection was the only route out of New Orleans left intact. However, although Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco ordered an evacuation of all residents remaining in the city, the bridge was sealed by officers from the City of Gretna, Louisiana and Jefferson Parish.
External links
- Crescent City Connection official website
- Map of the Bridges
- The Crescent City Connection and the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway suspended toll collections to move traffic more quickly
- Images of the bridges.
