Crescent City Connection

(Photography & Written By: Jessica Bilich)

New Orleans is a city that shows much appreciation for its people, food, culture, history, architecture, and even its infrastructures. 

The Crescent City Connection (CCC) is formerly known as the Greater New Orleans Bridge (GNO). 

According to LADOTD, “the Crescent City Connection ranks the fifth-longest cantilever bridges in the world and the farthest downstream bridge on the Mississippi River.”

The Mississippi River is the longest river in the United States.

The CCC are twin cantilever bridges that run across the Mississippi River in the parishes of Jefferson, Orleans, and St. Bernard. A cantilever bridge is a bridge in which each span is constructed from cantilevers built out sideways from piers, according to dictionary.com.  This means the cantilever structures project horizontally and are supported on one end.

The first CCC bridge construction began in 1954 and was opened to traffic in 1958. The second CCC bridge construction began in 1981 and was opened to traffic in 1988.

In addition to being ranked the fifth-longest cantilever bridges in the world, the CCC was also ranked as the fifth most traveled toll bridge in the United States with traffic exceeding 63 million each year.

In 2013, votes lead to the decision and new referendum to deny toll extension and to end toll collections on the CCC.