Answers to above Questions:

Not a bike path. It is illegal to bike on Interstate highways in Louisiana. Windy days up there are challenging in a car, so you would not want this as a must-do commute.

The bridge has been biked before, many times, especially before it was absorbed by I-310. Long distance bike touring folks will occasionally use it still and a few folks like us who just want to do it once, or once in a while.

Yes - the wide load right at the beginning made me think "Hmmm...would we have enough room for that sort of thing near the top when we lose a lane?"

Max speed on the downhill low 30s. We had to avoid those reflectors up until the exit ramp. Then, of course, EVERYBODY decided to exit at once, which is crazy because that is not a popular exit. If we had that exit to ourselves we would have used the lane (instead of the shoulder) and ramped up the max speed. No biggie.

My only worry setting out was the thought of getting confronted by some over-reacting cop. We both had no problem with getting a few tickets to pay. Taking our bikes away and throwing us in the slammer would not be so funny. We had a friend on standby for our one phone call just in case.