At 24 miles in length, the road over Lake Pontchartrain rightfully claims the title of the world longest bridge, even if it is not called one. First conceived by Bernard de Marigny, President of the Louisiana Senate and founder Mandeville, which the causeway connects to New Orleans, it replaced the system of ferries that took passenger from bank to bank before. By 1948 an actual design was put forward, and soon afterward construction began.

On this day, August 30, in 1956 the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway opened, named after the Count de Pontchartrain, minister of finance during the reign of France’s “Sun King,” Louis XIV (for whom Louisiana is named).

The difference between causeways and bridge are often in the eye of the beholder. Causeways are any raised roads over wetlands, but generally refer to low-raised ones, like Pontchartrain. Louisiana is very particular that theirs is bridge, however, and the world’s longest at that — when a Chinese bridge opened measuring 26 miles in length claimed the title of the world’s longest (and the Guinness book people went along), the Lake Pontchartrain officials objected, saying the Chinese bridge was only 16 miles over water. Based on that technicality, you will still hear when you call into their offices “Thank you for calling the Causeway, the world’s longest bridge.”