I-10 Twin Span Bridge, Bascule bridge across Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana, United States.
I-10 Twin Span Bridge is a bridge across Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana, connecting New Orleans and Slidell and stretching nearly 5.5 miles (8.8 km) over open water. Two parallel decks carry six lanes of highway traffic, supported by rows of concrete columns rising from the lake.
The original structure opened in 1965 and suffered major damage during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. After six years of work, the rebuilt crossing reopened to traffic in 2011.
The bridge received its official name, Frank Davis Memorial Bridge, in 2014 to honor the WWL-TV personality who frequently fished in the surrounding waters.
Crossing the span takes several minutes of highway driving, with no exits or rest stops in the middle. Drivers see flat water and sky stretching in all directions as they move across.
Sections of the old bridge from the 1960s now rest on the lake bottom and serve as an artificial reef. Fish and other aquatic life use the sunken concrete segments as habitat.
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