The Chef Menteur Pass is a narrow natural waterway which, along with the Rigolets, connects Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Rigolets is a 129 kilometer (8 mi long Strait in Louisiana. Lake Pontchartrain (ˈpɒntʃətreɪn in English Lac Pontchartrain IPA in French) is a brackish Lake Lake Borgne is a Lagoon in eastern Louisiana of the Gulf of Mexico New Orleans (nʲuːˈɔrliənz nʲuːˈɔrlənz French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) is a major United States port city and the largest city in Louisiana

View across Chef Menteur Pass with the Highway 90 Bridge

In the days of sailing ships, much commerce from the Gulf of Mexico came through here and the Rigolets into Lake Pontchartrain to New Orleans and surrounding communities. The Gulf of Mexico ( Spanish: Golfo de México) is the ninth largest Body of water in the world

Chef Menteur Pass was long guarded by Fort Macomb, now an abandoned ruin on the western side of the Pass. Fort Macomb is a 19th century Fortress in Louisiana, on the western shore of Chef Menteur Pass. Two bridges span the Pass. The automobile bridge, constructed in 1929, carries U.S. Highway 90; 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, and portions are still known as "Chef Menteur Highway. US Route 90 is an east-west United States highway. Despite the "0" in its route number US 90 never was a full coast-to-coast route it has always ended at The system of United States Numbered Highways (often called U " A railroad bridge also spans the Pass a short distance south of the highway bridge.

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. Venetian Isles (Îles Vénetiennes is a neighborhood of New Orleans Louisiana.

This area was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest hurricane, as well as one of the five deadliest in the history of the United States The Highway 90 Bridge was closed from the day of the hurricane on 29 August 2005 until repairs allowed it to reopen on 11 August 2006.