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Lake Pontchartrain Causeway The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway consists of two bridges which are the longest in the world. Crossing over Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana, the longer of the two bridges is 23 miles 1,538 yards (38.422 km) long. (It is 6 miles longer than the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, which is 17 miles long.) The southern end of the causeway is in Metarie, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans. The northern end is at Mandeville, Louisiana. The original causeway, a two-lane span, was opened in 1956. A parallel two-lane span, slightly longer than the original, opened in 1969. The causeway has always been a toll bridge. Until 1999, tolls were collected from traffic going in each direction. To alleviate congestion at the south shore entrance, the toll facilities were removed from the northbound span. The standard tolls for cars changed from $1.50 in each direction to a $3.00 toll collected on the North Shore from southbound traffic only. The opening of the causeway opened up communities on the North Shore of the lake for commuters working in New Orleans, bringing the North Shore into the Greater New Orleans Metropolitan area. See also External link
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