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Cellpic Sunday – The Crescent City Connection Bridges

Crescent City Connection Bridges.

New Orleans, Louisiana.

The Crescent City Connection (CCC), formerly known as the Greater New Orleans (GNO) Bridge, is a pair of cantilever bridges that carry U.S. Highway 90 Business Loop over the Mississippi River in New Orleans, Louisiana. The two bridges are the fifth-longest cantilever design spans in the world. Each span carries four general-use automobile lanes. The westbound span has two reversible HOV lanes, allowing directional changes during heavy traffic.

The Crescent City Connection, originally called the Greater New Orleans Bridge (GNO Bridge), wasn’t built all at once. Construction began on the first section in November 1954 and opened for traffic in April 1958. When it was completed, the span became the world’s longest cantilever bridge. Construction on the westbound section, known as GNO Bridge No. 2, didn’t begin until March 1981. Drivers finally used it in September 1988, completing the entire Crescent City Connection.

According to the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, the bridges have an annual traffic volume of more than 63 million vehicles. Formerly a toll bridge, it was toll-free after 2013. This is the southernmost crossing of the Mississippi River.

About the photo: We walked from our hotel via Poydras Street toward the Riverwalk Outlets mall built along the west bank of the Mississippi. It was nearing sunset when we started our stroll down the river walkway. People were boarding a riverboat for a sunset dinner cruise. As the blue hour waned, a tugboat and barge headed upriver. I captured the image on my Samsung S23U and brought it into Luminar Neo for minimal enhancements. I tweaked the contrast and brightness to add impact to the reflections, and used a linear mask to slightly darken the sky to emphasize the city lights. You can view the image on a dark background for better pixel-peeping on my Flickr site. Click the image to view it in 2K HD.

I invite fellow bloggers to join in by creating their own Cellpic Sunday posts. There’s no set theme. The first rule: your photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or other mobile device. The second rule: link your challenge response to this post or drop a comment here with your link so others can find it. And remember, despite the name, there’s no penalty for sharing on a day other than Sunday.

John Steiner

41 comments

  26. […] During Mardi Gras season in New Orleans, we boarded a cruise ship at the Mississippi River Terminal. The evening before departure, we soaked up the Big Easy’s energy as we walked the promenade near the dock. In the distance, I spotted two illuminated bridges carrying one-way traffic across the river. The Crescent City Connection is a pair of cantilever steel truss bridges over the Mississippi River. Each span stretches 13,428 feet (4,093 m); the eastbound bridge opened in 1958, and its westbound companion followed in 1988. You can read more about the twin bridges in my Cellpic Sunday post here. […]

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