Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — Several people were injured Tuesday morning after foggy conditions contributed to several car crashes that forced the closure of the 24-mile-long (38.6-kilometer-long) bridge connecting the north and south shores of southeast Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain. By early evening, both spans had reopened.
Carlton Dufrechou, the general manager of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, said there were six crashes — two on the southbound span and four on the northbound span. St. Tammany Parish fire officials told local news outlets that 33 people were transported to area hospitals with injuries. There were no fatalities.
Disabled vehicles and response vehicles are seen on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, which spans 24 miles over the lake, after a pileup due to morning fog in New Orleans, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Gerald Herbert/AP
Disabled vehicles and response vehicles are seen on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, which spans 24 miles over the lake, after a pileup due to morning fog in New Orleans, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Gerald Herbert/AP
Disabled vehicles and response vehicles are seen on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, which spans 24 miles over the lake, after a pileup due to morning fog in New Orleans, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Gerald Herbert/AP
Disabled vehicles and response vehicles are seen on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, which spans 24 miles over the lake, after a pileup due to morning fog in New Orleans, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Gerald Herbert/AP
Dufrechou said he didn’t know the exact number of vehicles involved in the crashes or the total number of injuries.
A total of 30 people were stranded on the bridge for hours and were transported by van to either Metairie on the south shore or Mandeville on the lake’s north shore throughout the day, officials said.
“Fog was definitely a factor but from what I’m hearing it was not the (only) factor,” he said. “There was some haze on the bridge but the fog developed all of a sudden. We look at accidents all the time on this bridge and 60% to 70% of those wrecks are due to inattentive driving, either texting or answering a phone or looking down and not looking at the road.”
The causeway, connecting the New Orleans metro area on the south shore to suburban communities on the north shore, was closed around 8:30 a.m. After damaged vehicles from the two parallel spans were cleared, the bridge was reopened at about 5 p.m. with rolling convoys, officials said.
Tuesday’s crashes were reminiscent of a deadly accident on Interstate 55 on Oct. 23, 2023, near New Orleans. Seven motorists died and about two dozen were injured in pileups involving about 160 vehicles amid a super fog, which is created by smoke from marsh fires mixing with dense fog.
The Bonnet Carre Spillway Bridge was also briefly closed amid the fog but was later reopened. No accidents were reported on that bridge during the bad weather.
