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7-584: The Chef Menteur Pass is a narrow natural waterway which, along with the Rigolets , connects Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne in New Orleans , Louisiana . It begins at 30°5′45″N 89°48′52″W  /  30.09583°N 89.81444°W  / 30.09583; -89.81444 and follows a generally southeastward course. In the days of sailing ships, much commerce from the Gulf of Mexico sailed through

14-591: A generally eastward course to Lake Borgne , a lagoon in the Gulf of Mexico , and finally to the Gulf of Mexico, where it ends at 30°09′16″N 89°37′31″W  /  30.15444°N 89.62528°W  / 30.15444; -89.62528 . Along with nearby Chef Menteur Pass , the Rigolets connects Lake Pontchartrain and Lake St. Catherine in Louisiana to Lake Borgne, and then to the Gulf of Mexico. It forms

21-501: The boundary between New Orleans (Orleans Parish) and St. Tammany Parish . As a deepwater tidal pass, the Rigolets helps supply salt water from the Gulf to Lake Pontchartrain. Tidal scouring has produced a deep pit in the lake at the western mouth of the strait. Since the Rigolets is a channel through which Gulf storm surges can approach the New Orleans area, there have been proposals to construct floodgates to try to protect

28-466: The city, especially since the destructiveness of hurricanes in the early 21st century. The United States constructed Fort Pike following the War of 1812 to protect passage on the Rigolets. The fort was abandoned in 1890 when it was no longer considered necessary. The Rigolets is spanned by two bridges. The western terminus of the U.S. Route 90 Rigolets Bridge is located immediately north of Fort Pike. It

35-587: The day that the hurricane struck on 29 August 2005 and remained open for sometime after the hurricane to aid residents of Slidell access to New Orleans and to aid in access to I-10 East, I-12 West and I-59 North. Repairs to the bridge were completed in August 2006. This Louisiana state location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Rigolets The strait begins at 30°10′40″N 89°44′40″W  /  30.17778°N 89.74444°W  / 30.17778; -89.74444 and follows

42-462: The pass and the Rigolets into Lake Pontchartrain to New Orleans and surrounding communities. The Lake Catherine neighborhood of New Orleans is to the east side of the pass. The Venetian Isles neighborhood of New Orleans is to the west of the pass. Chef Menteur Pass was long guarded by Fort Macomb , now an abandoned ruin on the western side of the pass. Two bridges span the pass. The automobile bridge , constructed in 1929, carries U.S. Highway 90 ;

49-405: The portion of this road between central New Orleans and the pass was long known as "Chef Menteur Road" before the route became a U.S. highway. Portions are still known as "Chef Menteur Highway." The CSX railroad bridge also spans Chef Menteur Pass a short distance south of the highway bridge. This area was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Highway 90 bridge was the only bridge open from

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