Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.

Leaving Baton Rouge on I-10 and traveling west, we soon found ourselves on a long bridge. After many miles on the bridge over the Atchafalaya Swamp, we spotted a welcome center sign. There, we would learn more about the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, officially named the Louisiana Airborne Memorial Bridge, a pair of parallel bridges in Louisiana that carry Interstate 10 over the Atchafalaya Basin.

The structure consists of parallel twin bridges spanning 18 miles (29 km), making it the third-longest bridge in the United States. It is also the second-longest bridge on the interstate highway system and ranks among the longest bridges globally.

Construction of the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge commenced in 1971 and concluded in 1973, providing a vital link between Baton Rouge and Lafayette. The bridge handles a substantial volume of traffic, with daily vehicle counts exceeding 30,000. Although most of the bridge is over marshy areas, there are areas of solid ground that the bridge also spans. Only a few miles from the west end of the bridge, an exit sign invited us to stop at the Atchafalaya Visitor Center.

The rest area and welcome center is perfect for those traveling west to take a break from the drive on the long bridge. The welcome center is an inviting place with plenty of information on the Atchafalaya Basin and its wildlife.

Don’t worry about your pets and kids while in the nearby park. Those alligators are sculptures. The garden also features other birds and animals found in the region. There’s also a flat-bottomed crawfishing boat on display.  

A friendly staff member described some of the details of the swamp’s history and its economic benefits to the region. We spent more time than we thought we might at this beautifully laid-out visitor center.

Though we didn’t have time to explore the swamp during our visit, the Welcome Center showed us that the area is worth a stop. The Atchafalaya Basin’s unique natural beauty attracts tourists, generating revenue for local businesses. Activities like boating, fishing, wildlife viewing, and swamp tours are popular.

Commercial fishing taps an abundance of crawfish, a Louisiana staple. Other fisheries are also economic drivers for the local seafood economy. The basin’s wetlands provide crucial flood control, protecting downstream communities and infrastructure from damage. Natural water filtration provided by the wetlands improves water quality in the region. Overall, the area is worth a deeper exploration, and we already have it in our plans for 2025 to spend more time in the Atchafalaya.

After our break, we returned to the bridge to complete the crossing, with a little less than one-third of the distance remaining. More information on the Welcome Center, including operating hours and directions, is located here. You can find all the images above in 2K HD via my Flickr album here. There will be more to the story of the Atchafalaya Basin in future posts.

John Steiner