Chef Menteur Bridge, Road and swing bridge in Louisiana, US

Chef Menteur Bridge is a truss bridge carrying U.S. Route 90 across Chef Menteur Pass, linking New Orleans with Slidell on the eastern side of Lake Pontchartrain. Its steel side girders are assembled in a lattice, and a central swing span rotates to let vessels coming from the Gulf of Mexico pass.

The Chef Menteur Bridge was inaugurated on 9 June 1930, the same day as the Rigolets bridge, replacing the earlier crossing of Chef Menteur Pass on the route out of New Orleans. After Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, the road bridge was closed for a year before reopening to traffic.

The name Chef Menteur is French for "lying chief"; local tradition ties it to a Native American leader who misled early French settlers about the pass. The name passed into English usage and now labels the bridge, the pass and Chef Menteur Road, the local name for US 90 out of New Orleans.

The bridge carries thousands of vehicles daily while allowing marine traffic to pass through its rotating central section. Keep in mind that openings for boat passage can cause temporary delays for road traffic during certain times.

The Chef Menteur Bridge is a truss bridge whose side girders are assembled from bolted, riveted or welded steel lattice work, a technique once called "American beams" because it developed in the United States. Its central section is a swing span that turns to let vessels coming from the Gulf of Mexico and up the Mississippi pass. It opened on 9 June 1930, the same day as the Rigolets bridge.