Veterans Memorial Bridge

"DANGER. You are now entering a U.S. Military installation. Use of deadly force has been authorized."

- US Military "Oh yeah...our goal is right next to the bridge! ON THE OTHER MOTHER EFFIN' SIDE OF THE WATER!"

- Coach

Veterans Memorial Bridge is a vertical-lift bridge crossing the Mississippi River in New Orleans, Louisiana. It serves as the main objective for the Survivors and is seen throughout the campaign, The Parish of Left 4 Dead 2.

History
This bridge serves as the primary access way from the east and west banks of New Orleans. It is a double-decker bridge with vertical lifts at each end to allow large freight and cruise ships to pass through. The west end of the bridge leads to the city of New Orleans whereas the east end leads to the Louisiana Naval Base and possibly to another docking area (as the highway is seen to continue on). The name of this bridge might have been inspired by New Orleans' real-life "Veterans Memorial Highway."

Current Status
Originally, refugees from the Bus Station Evacuation Center would be taken by CEDA evacuation buses across the bridge to be evacuated by military helicopters to awaiting cruise ships in the Caribbean. However, when the military took over CEDA's responsibilities and hearing that the Bus Station was rioting and being overrun, the military pulled out of the west bank area and headed towards the naval base evacuation site. They raised the bridge to stop the Infected as well as rioters and Carriers from getting to the naval base (however, it doesn't make sense as the switch to raise/lower the bridge is on the west side and not the east). It seems that the last soldier there, was killed by the Infected and left the radio beside his corpse only to be used by the Survivors to contact the military (or the soldier over there sacrificed himself to raise the bridge, bringing the radio along).



Once they contact the military, the soldiers tell the Survivors that they had evacuated from the bridge and their only hope of escaping was a last helicopter at the other side of the bridge. The Survivors agreed to their terms and fought their way through the heavily-infested and bombarded bridge as jets screamed past them. As they got into the helicopter's carriage, it left immediately and the bridge was immediately bombed to stem the spread of the Infection.