Opened in December 1935, the bridge was named for the late Governor Huey P. Long, who was assassinated on September 8 of that year.

[6] On June 16, 2013, a $1.2 billion widening project by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development was completed and opened to motorists.

in 2014, a writer at The New Yorker described the bridge as "a structure so vaulting and high that it seems to extend from one white, towering Gulf Coast cloud to the next.

As originally constructed, each roadway deck was 18 feet (5.5 m) wide, with two 9-foot (2.7 m) lanes; but because of the railroad component, it is unusually flat.

The bridge was hated by many drivers in the New Orleans area due to the narrow 9-foot-wide (2.7 m) lanes without shoulders before it was widened.

Additionally, where the East Bank approach met the superstructure of the bridge, the two vehicular roadways "jogged" or shifted inwards towards the bridge centerline about 1+1⁄2 feet (0.46 m) since the through-truss portion of the superstructure was 3 feet (0.91 m) wider than the deck truss portion of the east approach.

As early as 1892 the Southern Pacific Railway proposed a high-level bridge, but a depression that year prevented further work on a project that would have been an overwhelming challenge for the engineers of the time due to soil conditions and extremely high clearances for river navigation.

Three general ideas emerged from the planning process: a low-level drawbridge, a tunnel, and a high-level bridge.

Construction of the bridge proceeded smoothly over a three-year period with only minor interruptions due to high water and a one-month strike in September 1933.

In order to minimize the use of falsework and river closures in the navigation or auxiliary channels, the three remaining spans were done through the span-by-span method.

Temporary stability frames made up of floorbeams and towers were used to support each span section during the lifting process.

On February 5, 2013, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Sherri LeBas announced that the bridge would be fully open to drivers on June 16, 2013.