A bridge over a lake in the US is considered a nightmare for many drivers, to the point that many panic when crossing it and have to be escorted by police to turn around.
That's the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, a nearly 39km long bridge spanning Lake Pontchartrain (Louisiana, USA). It's currently the world's longest continuous bridge over water and is frequently listed among the "Scariest Bridges on the Planet".
The bridge, consisting of two parallel spans, connects the Metairie area with the city of Mandeville. It was built during the 1940s and 1950s, when New Orleans needed a shorter transportation route to accommodate the region's rapid growth.
The bridge is 39km long (Photo: Getty).
Remarkably, the first section of the bridge was completed in just 14 months, despite its length spanning tens of kilometers. Each year, the bridge sees approximately 12 million vehicles crossing it.
The bridge towards Mandeville is a toll road, with an average travel time of approximately 30 minutes under favorable weather and traffic conditions.
However, the fear doesn't come from the length of the bridge, but from sections where drivers can't see land on either side, only the vast expanse of sky and water.
According to many who have experienced it, there is a section over 12km long where people walking on the bridge feel completely isolated in mid-air, causing them to lose their bearings and experience extreme anxiety.
There are designated U-turn points along the bridge, but drivers are not permitted to approach them on their own. If they panic, they must wait for Causeway police or the Motorist Assistance Patrol (MAP) to escort them to the stop.
This force is on constant standby to handle accidents, dense fog, or other emergencies. As of 2011, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway held the Guinness World Record for the longest bridge in the world spanning water.
After China's Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay Bridge was opened, Guinness separated the category into two: Lake Pontchartrain Causeway holds the title of longest continuous bridge crossing water, and Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay Bridge holds the record for the largest total length of bridges crossing water.
Despite being a marvel of engineering, the bridge still makes the experience of crossing it anything but pleasant. BBC Science Focus once called it "one of the scariest bridges in the world."
One person who once crossed the bridge shared: "When I was on the bridge, sometimes the sky and the water were the same color, and the lake was completely still. It was almost impossible to distinguish between the sky and the water. It felt like driving on a bridge through the clouds."
Many drivers find this long bridge very disorienting (Photo: Getty).
Another person recounted: "I once drove across this bridge during a storm. It was truly terrifying."
Another driver said he panicked while crossing the bridge and had to ask the police for help and reassurance. The police even called his friend to pick him up and advised him not to continue driving.
Meanwhile, many people had a very ordinary driving experience across the bridge. “I remember when I was a child and crossing the bridge at sunset, the cars looked like they were heading towards the ends of the earth. Now, for me, it’s just… a normal 30-minute drive,” one driver said.