01 August 2008

Capital Region Minor State Highway Descriptions

DISCLAMER: These are merely cute and barely informative descriptions of the various state roads in the nine parish Capital region, and do not include technical details such as termini, length, etc., mainly because I am too lazy to include all this. Refer to the excellent AARoads Louisiana State Highway Log for these pertinent details. (Hey Beavis, he said log.)

EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH MINOR SRs:

The main course. Includes some important roads, and some of absolutely no consequence.

327 - River Road, Skip Bertman Drive: This road follows the levee from LSU southward, through the bucolic, barren desolation that is southwest EBR Parish and into St. Gabriel to a terminus at LA 75. The Skip Bertman Drive portion is 4 lanes, the River Road portion is 2 lanes.

327 Spur - Gardere Lane: The 2 lane main street of the Gardere community (pronounced “gar-DEER”, or “gar-DEE-LAY” if you speak Chinglish). This road once served as part of LA 30 before Nicholson Drive was extended to St. Gabriel; this is why the state highway extends to Highland, which is no longer a state road (LA 30 followed Highland to Nicholson Ext. to meet its present alignment). Hence the spur, created when LA 30 was realigned.

409 - Liberty Road: Serves the Pride community in the far NE of the parish.

410 - Blackwater Road: Extends from Hooper Road (LA 408) to LA 64 in the western part of the city of Central.

423 - Thomas Road: Only includes the segment of Thomas Road between LA 19 and LA 67, on the border separating Baton Rouge and Baker.

426 - Old Hammond Highway: This road was original US 190. Later it became an unremarkable rural road when US 190 was realigned onto Florida, and even later an overloaded arterial as suburban growth overwhelmed the area. Five lanes to Boulevard de Province, 2 lanes thereafter.

427 - Perkins Road, S. Acadian Thruway, Perkins Road E.: Begins as Acadian Thruway at Government Street (LA 73) in Mid City. Perkins Road assumes the designation east of its intersection with Acadian, to the end of the parish and into Ascension, where it ends (again) at LA 73 in Prairieville. Originally this road followed Perkins westward to Park Blvd., where it turned north to end at Government. Realigned when it was realized that Perkins west of Acadian, and Park Blvd., do not make good through routes. The famous “Perkins overpass” near where it crosses I-10 (it can be seen from the freeway to the north) is a lasting legacy of state control, however, dating from 1937. Is five lanes from Acadian to Essen, and (to the chagrin of so many motorists) 2 lanes thereafter.

946 - Joor Road: One of the main roadways serving Central. Under state control between GSR and Hooper. Five lanes south of the Comite River and two lanes north of there.

948 - Part of Highland Road: What is left over of Highland Road after LA 42 leaves it at Airline. This comprises the short section between Airline and Jefferson Highways.

1068 - Drusilla Lane: A heavily overloaded 2 lane (!) connector road between Old Hammond and Jefferson Highways just west of Airline, in an area perilously lacking in decent north-south arterials. Serves to funnel traffic, along with Brentwood and Fairway Drives (which are not really meant to do so), between Tara Boulevard and Essen Lane.

1209 - Various local streets in Zachary: Out of place numerically in EBR Parish, this SR comprises an extremely obscure series of local streets (former aligments of the main BR-Zachary road in the neighborhood) and does not even leave Zachary city limits. Dispose of this, DOTD!

1248 - Bluebonnet Blvd.: (Busy, but should still be local.) A major arterial serving southeast BR, the state controlled portion of Bluebonnet extends from Nicholson at the south end to I-10 near the Mall of La. The portion from Burbank to Nicholson was only recently extended. One of the few four lane roads in the parish to sport a grass median.

3006 - Lavey Lane: A short connector street in Baker, named for the founder of the Church of Satan (just kidding).

3034 - Sullivan Road/Wax Road/Magnolia Bridge Road: This combination of 2 lane arterials connects the central part of Central (confused?) with LA 64 and a bridge into Livingston Parish.

3045 - Capitol Access Road: A short spur from I-110 into the State Capitol grounds. Passes by the Governor’s Mansion (aka Banquo’s Bimbo Pimple Purple Palace) and the DOTD headquarters. Also comprises several streets around the Capitol park. Was unsigned until very recently, when DOTD undertook a sign replacement project on I-110 and environs.

3064 - Essen Lane: A busy, 6 lane (woo hoo!) street in the area of the 10/12 split, so close that it interchanges with both freeways.

3113 - Port Hudson Cemetery Road: A spur off US 61 in the far NW part of the parish to the Port Hudson National Cemetery where veterans of the War Between the States rest for eternity. Also serves a huge paper mill.

3164 - Scenic Hwy. (south of Chippewa to I-110): Leftover portion of Scenic Highway where it isn’t US 61 or US 61/190 Business. Was once US 61 and later US 61/190 mainline once upon a time.

3245 - O’Neal Lane: Another busy, overloaded arterial masquerading as a 2 lane rural road. State control extends over the whole length north of S. Harrell’s Ferry Road, which hasn’t seemed to help in the way of timely improvements.

3246 - Siegen Lane: (Lane???? LANE??!!!) Another rare 6 to 7 lane road on the southside. State control extends over the entirety. The portion S of Perkins is actually only 2 lanes, so maybe that qualifies this road as a ‘lane.’

LIVINGSTON PARISH MINOR SRs:

The minor numbered routes in the Denham Springs/Walker/Watson area are becoming increasingly irrelevant as street names begin to predominate with the onset of widespread urbanization of the area. Elsewhere in the parish, numbers still predominate.

Livingston Parish is full of rednecks. Don’t let recent development trends fool you.

441 – A quiet country road that serves the Holden community and continues north to Montpelier in St. Helena Parish. Parallels and more or less duplicates LA 43.

442 – Serves Tickfaw in Tangipahoa Parish. In Livingston, possibly the most empty, barren road I have come across.

444 – Connects French Settlement and Killian in southern Livingston.

447 – Walker (Road): The main north-south road serving Walker. Known locally as “Walker North” and “Walker South” (divided by US 190). Ah, the ways of rednecks.

449 – The most direct route between Walker and the Pine Grove community in St H, as well as the Greensburg area.

1019 – This road parallels LA 16 for a time, then continues east through the Watson area to end at LA 63 somewhere in north Livingston.

1020 – A very pointless, useless, dead end state route serving residential areas near the Amite River in Watson. Definitely local road material.

1022 – Short, valueless connection between LA 16 and 1019 in Watson.

1023 – Another short rural local road in north Livingston, paralleling LA 447 about one mile to the west.

1024 – Cane Market Road: Serving brand new subdivisions and other urbanizing areas in the NW Livingston piney wastes.

1025 – Arnold Road: Short but sweet, serves similar purposes to 1024.

1026 – Lockhart Road, Juban Road: A series of important connecting roads in the Denham Springs/Walker area serving newly developing areas and connecting to other important roads in the process. Juban Road now sports a brand-new interchange with I-12 (opened April 2007) that has long been desired by Livingston Parish residents. Another project proposed by some is a northerly extension of Juban Road to meet with Lockhart Road, thus eliminating the annoying kink in the current routing of 1026 and making the new interchange more accessible.

1027 – Runs parallel to US 190 within the city of Walker, and was likely an old alignment of 190. Cosigned with LA 1026 on its western end.

1028 – Old River Road: Another section of the Amite River road. “Cuts the corner” between LA 16 and 64 north of Denham Springs. Also a residential local road.

1029 – Corbin Street: Essentially a local street in Walker, skirting the northeast side of the town.

1030 – Cockerham Road: Serves the north part of the city of Denham Springs.

1031 - Hatchell Lane: Serves the east part of the city of Denham Springs.

1032 – Capitol Street, Mayor Hoover Ave., Gov’t Drive, River Road, 4-H Club Road: Oh my, you know you’re in redneck country when we see a “4-H Club Road.”

1033 – A small connecting road between LA 1032 and LA 16. Really just a residential backroad.

1034 – Vincent Road: Connects the all important South Range Avenue (LA 3002) with LA 1032 and LA 16, which bypasses the southern half of Denham Springs. LA 16 really should be following this road west to LA 3002. The rest should just be chucked.

1035-1 through 4 – Local streets in Livingston: All of these are city streets in Livingston, generally leading to and surrounding the parish courthouse. For the love of god why DOTD?

1036 – Runs west of, and essentially duplicates, LA 441’s path from Holden to Montpelier.

1037 – Firetower Road (?): One continuous signed route, but essentially two roads. The eastern road is a short dead end street within the town of Springfield. The western road is the primary but indirect means of access to Tickfaw State Park.

1038 – Carter Cemetery Road: Another short dead end state highway in Springfield.

1039 – Bear Island Road, Black Lake Club Rd: Another dead end spur off LA 22 in extreme lower Livingston Parish, near the Maurepas community.

1040 – Enters far eastern Livingston south of Albany and quickly exits, headed for Hammond. I-12 sits less than a mile to the south of this route for most of its distance.

1064 – Enters Livingston a short distance north of Albany to end at LA 43. Serves no place important.

3002 – South Range Road: The main arterial and lifeline of Denham Springs, South Range Road is four lanes of glory spurring from the interstate into the heart of that town. The de facto main street of the city and surrounding area, it comprises the usual suburban strip of big boxes, chain restaurants, filling stations, and the like. This road really just serves to carry a lot of commuters from their homes in all the new subdivisions out there to their jobs in the morning, and back in the evening.

3003 – Rushing Road: An east-west connection in southern Denham Springs from LA 16 to LA 1032. Exists primarily to feed traffic to the city’s lone freeway interchange. Fairly busy, but serves no statewide function.

LA 3282 – Centerville Street: Entirely within the central part of Denham Springs and passing through its historic downtown, this road was a one time alignment of US 190, and later LA 1032 before the north end of that route was rerouted to the south. The high number means it was designated fairly recently.

LA 3285 – An old alignment of LA 16, this was obviously bypassed and redesignated fairly recently. Only in Louisiana would this POS road still be on the state system.

WEST BATON ROUGE PARISH MINOR SRs:

WBR Parish is cool. Only here can you live among sugarcane fields and still have a choice view of the BR skyline.

LA 413 – Bayou Poydras Road: Serves very little purpose in WBR except to connect Erwinville to LA 76. A very attractive drive as you enter Pointe Coupee Parish to the north of Erwinville.

LA 415 – Lobdell Highway, Plantation Avenue, N. River Road: Actually this should not be considered a ‘minor’ SR as this road serves an important purpose. LA 415 is the most direct connection from I-10 to US 190. Taking US 190 instead of I-10 west of BR shaves off some distance if one is headed to Opelousas, Alexandria, or any point in north La. Also the most direct route from the interstate (to get to other roads) to scenic New Roads and casino ‘gaming’ in Marksville. The I-10/US 190 section is a 4 to 5 lane road which carries ample long distance traffic, and also serves the small community of Lobdell. The river road portion is less important, and is winding to boot as it parallels the levee, but is a good alternate route to New Roads.

Something that underscores the importance of this road: Before 1995 or whereabouts (that is, pre completed I-49), this was signed as the “Alexandria” exit from I-10 (LA 415 to US 190). Using this road to connect to US 190, and from there either to LA 1 or US 71, was considered the most direct route to Alexandria (and points north) before the interstate was completed. Even today this combination remains the shortest route distance wise (but maybe not the fastest).

LA 415 Spur - Lobdell Highway: Comprises the ramps which carry traffic from NB 415 to WB US 190, and from EB US 190 to SB 415. Signed as “TO LA 415/I-10/I-12” and “TO US 190/LA 1.”

LA 620 – Section Road: With a number decidedly out of place in the land of 4xx and 9xx routes, LA 620 cuts a distance through sugarcane and woods in north WBR.

LA 982 – Arbroth Road: Sugarcane, trees, and a few homes is all this route serves in extreme north WBR.

LA 983 – Bueche Road: This road cuts through the heart of the WBR sugarcane empire. In the winter, vast empty fields open up and you can see everything there is to see for miles. It is awe inspiring, but unfortunately does not save this road from its local service function fate.

LA 984 - Driving in northern WBR is like driving in Iowa, sans hills: much agricultural splendor and rural farmsteads to see, and one gets the impression of driving on county section line roads. LA 984 does not disappoint in this regard.

LA 985 - All of these northern WBR roads, in other states, would be locally maintained. By the way, LA 985 is a short connector between LA 983 and LA 415.

LA 986 – Rosedale Highway, N. River Road: This road strays closer to developed areas. The routing is an inverted “C” beginning and ending at LA 415: looping along the north side of Port Allen, then following the bend of the river to return.

LA 987-1 – A very short connector, literally in the shadow of the US 190 Mississippi River bridge (directly under it, to be exact), between LA 986 and LA 1 – specifically some of the LA 1 ramps to US 190.

LA 987-2 – Faye Avenue: Also connects LA 1 and LA 986. Serves the erstwhile community of Sunrise. A narrow strip of land sandwiched between refineries to the north, west, and south, there is exactly one house remaining in Sunrise – and little else save ‘urban’ prairie. This road is crumbling from disuse, and should certainly be decommissioned from the state system.

LA 987-3 – Lafiton Lane, Plantation Avenue: The longest of the 987 family, Lafiton Lane connects ‘Sunrise’ with Lobdell and cuts through that community on the narrow and twisting former alignment of LA 415.

LA 987-3 Spur – Basically the strip of pavement between where Lafiton Lane intersects LA 415 and LA 987-3 proper. Signed as its parent. Only in La. would pointless routes have even more pointless spurs.

LA 987-4 – Court Street: The rest of Court Street from LA 1 east to the river and the former ferry landing. Passes through Port Allen’s downtown, such as it is. This stretch of roadway was once supremely important in the distant past, as this was the Jefferson Highway/old LA 1, and later US 71 and US 190 until the first river bridge was completed and the ferry routing became irrelevant to intercity travel. A marker remains to memorialize the former ferry service, which persisted until 1968.

LA 987-5 – Commerce Street, Oaks Avenue: A couple of residential side streets in Port Allen that squat near the river. Connects to the other pointless 987 routes in the vicinity.

LA 987-6 – South Jefferson Street: Another residential side street in Port Allen. They don’t get more pointless than this, eh?
LA 988 – South River Road: Parallels the river levee from Plaquemine through Addis and Brusly before turning inland to a point on LA 1 just south of the Port Allen locks.

LA 989-1 – Lukeville Lane, Choctaw Road: Passes through the unrecognized communities of Lukeville and Choctaw south of Brusly before pointlessly dead ending at the Intracoastal canal behind the town. Possibly the longest extant hyphenated route at about 5 ½ miles in length.

LA 989-2 – Main Street, Labauve Avenue: Serves as the spine of the town of Brusly, including the legendary “Back Brusly.” At the bend in this route is the fabled Brusly Oak.

LA 990 – Addis Lane, Main Street: A short spur into the center of the town of Addis.

LA 1145 – Calumet Road: Can be found serving sugarcane fields to the west of Port Allen and Lobdell.

LA 3091 – Short local road to the NE of Erwinville.

LA 3237 - American Way: I believe this short side street spur near the Port Allen Wal-Mart exists primarily to service a DOTD boat shed.

ASCENSION PARISH MINOR SRs:

Lots of state highways in this area.

LA 308 – Follows the east bank of Bayou Lafourche from Donaldsonville to Golden Meadow, practically near the Gulf. The longest ‘minor’ state route at over 80 miles in length, only 3 or so miles exist in Ascension Parish.

LA 405 – This road does the looping along the river from Plaquemine through White Castle to near D’ville while LA 1 makes a direct beeline between those towns.

LA 427 – Perkins Road: The extension of Perkins Road from EBR Parish enters north Asc and serves a rapidly subdividing area before ending at LA 73 in Prairieville (actually Hope Villa). This remains a two lane road despite increasing traffic loads.

For a small (but growing) town, Gonzales has a large number of state highways entering its incorporated limits and mulling around the vicinity. Here is a listing of the minor SRs:

Entering Gonzales:

LA 429: Passes east and west through the city. Continues east to St. Amant and west to LA 73. Moderately important.

LA 935: Wastrel residential road to the NE of Gonzales. Barely enters the city at its very northern end.

LA 938: Loops off of LA 74 via a lengthy turning ramp, then winds along the New River into Gonzales center (as New River Drive).

LA 939: Entirely within Gonzales, this road makes an unneeded state highway connection between LA 44 and US 61. Also known as East Worthey Road.

LA 940: Pointless dead end spur also entirely within city limits. Known locally as Boudreaux Drive.

LA 3038: Short street (East Cornerview) within Gonzales center that makes a connection between US 61 and LA 44/429. Not important enough to keep.

Around Gonzales:

LA 431: An important road on the east side of Ascension that connects Gonzales/ Sorrento with Port Vincent.

LA 621: Passes east and west through the heart of East Ascension and the community of Duplessis.

LA 928: AKA Bluff Road, this lightly traveled minor SR parallels I-10 while skirting the edge of the Alligator Swamp.

LA 930: Useless spur in the Prairieville area.

LA 931: Another central Asc E-W road.

LA 932: N-S road that parallels LA 44 one mile to the east.

LA 933: Residential road connector in the Galvez area.

LA 934: Parallels LA 621 one half mile to the south.

LA 936: Series of local roads which aimlessly and pointlessly loop around in the St. Amant vicinity.

LA 937: Another useless loop in St. Amant.

LA 941: Loops around the south and east sides of the Gonzales city limits, crossing I-10 in the process.

LA 942: Comprises a short portion of the river road between LA 22 and 75 at Darrow (where three SRs mysteriously self-destruct at one point) and LA 44 at Burnside, which takes it from there east to Laplace.

LA 3140: Quite possibly the most useless SR in Greater Baton Rouge (but not the state, there are worse examples), this small spur off US 61 just north of the I-10 interchange east of Sorrento passes through uninhabited swamp to end at……an oil pump.

LA 3251: A relatively recent addition to the state highway family, this road serves an industrial district to the SW of Gonzales.

Donaldsonville area minor SRs:

LA 943: This SR makes a pointless loop to the west of Donaldsonville thru sugarcane fields, too far to serve as an effective bypass of the town.

LA 944: Don’t think LA 944 will provide you a bypass of the town, either, because most of the route (the north-south portion) is infamously UNSEALED! Darn, if not for the state’s incompetence we could have has a D’ville bypass yet. The short east west section passes through a tunnel of trees and cuts right thru a haunting, camellia-like, well preserved plantation (Palo Alto, to be exact), complete with slave cabins!!

LA 945: Entirely comprised of D’ville city streets on the city’s SE side.

LA 3089: Not actually a minor SR, this very important (multilane!) road provides a direct connection from D’ville and LA 1 to LA 70 and the Sunshine Bridge.

LA 3120: Pointless connector between LA 70 and LA 18 in the shadow of the Sunshine Bridge. Only point of interest served is the parish prison.

IBERVILLE PARISH MINOR SRs:

Why I waste so much valuable space on lengthy write-ups for all these mostly pathetic SRs, I have no idea.

LA 141: This short route in Carville, which comprises part of the river road, exists in two disjoint segments. Historically the entire road looping along the eastbank side of the Carville bend in the Miss. River was state highway, but at some point Elayn Hunt Correctional Center claimed the middle section as part of its property, and thus this currently unsealed section is closed to the public, leaving two short spurs jutting from LA 75. The southern spur is the more important, as it serves the Carville Ferry and the world famous Gillis Long Hansen’s Disease Center, aka the Carville leper colony.

LA 386: Pointless spur off LA 77 somewhere south of Grosse Tete.

LA 404: A lateral connection between LA 75 and LA 69 southwest of White Castle. Connects WC with the Bayou Sorrel and Bayou Pigeon communities.

LA 405: The westbank river road from west of D’ville to Plaquemine. Takes its sweet time looping while LA 1 takes the direct line paralleling the railroad.

LA 411: This road follows the east bank of aimlessly winding Bayou Grosse Tete while directly paralleling LA 77 from Rosedale to near Livonia.

LA 975: Follows the east levee of the main Atchafalaya River channel from I-10 at Whiskey Bay (of body dumping infamy) to US 190 across from Krotz Springs. Most of this road is in St. Martin Parish due to a lame fluke of parish boundary political geography. Serves no purpose whatsoever, even as an escape route from I-10 in case of a major traffic accident, as is common on the Atchafalaya bridge; because it too is badabadabadabada COMPLETELY UNSEALED!!!

LA 977: Mimics every bend of the parallel bayou and parallel LA 411 from Maringouin north to Livonia.

LA 991: Makes up a very non-valuable part of the eastbank Miss. river road, looping from the LA 75 ferry terminal west, north, and east to a terminus at LA 327 in the middle of nowhere (though all technically in the city of St. Gabriel, and deceptively close to Baton Rouge proper).

LA 992-3: LA 992-1 and 2 have long passed on (and no tears were shed for them, thank you), so this “youngest” child remains. Not at all important, this SR loops around the south side of Plaquemine on what should be local roads.

LA 993: This road is essentially a spur off LA 405 west of White Castle (though it crosses LA 1 and LA 404) into the sugarcane fields (which BTW are very pretty in the spring), ending at the fabulous and desolate locale of Lone Star (LONE STAR!!! Spaceballs was funny).

LA 994: So pathetic it barely deserves an entry, LA 994 constitutes a farm road spurring off LA 993 into sugarcane SW of White Castle. (This description is longer than the road.)

LA 995: Like its brother LA 994, LA 995 is another White Castle metropolitan spur, this time to the locale of Annadale. Has a weird hooking alignment.

LA 997: A true backwater road, LA 997 essentially continues the route of LA 75 southward, through the forbidden wastes at the far eastern tip of Iberia Parish (yes, Iberia Parish) to end at LA 70 at Belle River (which, BTW, is a real place). Parallels the eastern Atcafalaya River basin levee and the Intracoastal Waterway Baton Rouge spur.

LA 1148: This road is essentially two roads – first, a connector between LA 1 and LA 988 which passes near the Dow Chemical complex north of Plaquemine; and second, a dead end to some subdivisions and industrial sites in the backswamp. A strange curving connector, “LA 1148 Truck Route,” directly unites the two portions; otherwise use the official route along LA 1.

LA 1251: After investigating the most likely candidates, I confess I have no idea where this road is. Probably something to do with the fact that this road is so short and pointless it appears almost nowhere in my maps and records. Truly the phantom SR.

LA 3000: No, not an advertisement for some miracle cleaning agent, but apparently the first post 1955 SR. Anyway, this road makes a spur connection between Ramah and LA 76 (Not I-10? No, see below).

LA 3000 Spur: LA 3000 actually dead ends at the levee in the Ramah community, as anyone following the posted signage closely knows. In actuality, the road that completes the path to I-10 is officially LA 3000 Spur.

LA 3001: A Space Odyssey – just kidding. Actually this road is more like the Sugarcane Odyssey, as this road is a pointless diagonal connection thru sugarcane fields between two equally pointless SRs, 404 and 993. Sugarcane, the final frontier.

LA 3066: Parallels Bayou Plaquemine eastward into the eponymous city, where the road becomes narrow Court Street. A not so great alternate to LA 75.

LA 3066 Spur: A drawbridge over Bayou Plaquemine that connects to LA 77.

LA 3075: Mostly writ on water, the only hard-top portions constitute the ferry landings for the White Castle-Carville ferry.

LA 3115: Dangerously flirting with the Ascension Parish line, this road cuts a path between LA 74 and the industrial areas along the river road.

LA 75 Spur: Constitutes a weird pontoon drawbridge across the Intracoastal Waterway spur to the Bayou Sorrel community. This bridge actually takes longer to open and close than for boats to pass through.

EAST FELICIANA PARISH MINOR SRs:

East Feliciana - Gods’ Country: home to quaint towns, the beginning of the hill country, and some of the most ridiculous state routes known to man.

LA 412: An east-west lateral road between LA 946 and LA 67 which claims some shred of importance as it passes through the village of Slaughter.

LA 422: Runs along the northern tier of the parish from Norwood east to the locale of Woodland. Woodland is actually just that – woodland, with little human activity to speak of.

LA 432: Located in far NE EF, this road barrels east into St. Helena Parish to end at LA 38.

LA 951: Allegedly this road constitutes all the roads and driveways within East Louisiana State Hospital just east of Jackson. A truly inane SR, the signed portions of this road (in two segments) constitutes a couple of driveways leading from LA 10 to the gates of the main and eastern campus of the East Louisiana State Hospital around Jackson. The signed portion which I witnessed jutting off of LA 10 in Jackson constituted of a driveway which is so short, the gate is barely a car length’s distance from LA 10. Though the logs claim a half mile length, so what do I know….anyway, the major part of this ‘road’ is more or less closed to the general public.

LA 952: A twisty, not very appealing alternate route from Jackson north to Wilson.

LA 953: Another short POS road, this is a tiny spur off LA 10 on the east side of the RR overpass west of LA 19. Connects to a narrow local road which crosses the tracks at grade and returns to LA 10 on the other side. These ‘driveway’ SRs are both mysterious and ridiculous at the same time.

LA 954: A teeny tiny connector between LA 964 and US 61 just SE of the junction of those two roads. This SR defines pathetic.

LA 955: Road which more or less cuts diagonally across the parish from SW to NE, but runs at aimless odd angles.

LA 956: Useless lateral connector NE of Slaughter.

LA 957: Useless lateral connector NE of Slaughter. (Lots of useless lateral connectors in this area.)

LA 958: Runs south from near the intersection of LA 67 and 959 to an end at the EBR-EF Parish line. Mercifully becomes a local road as it enters EBR.

LA 959: Connects the bustling metropolises of Blairstown and Bluff Creek (actually blink-and-miss-them locales) in SE EF. Why there are so many churches on this road, miles from any habitation, is hard to say.

LA 960: Dead end (becomes a local road) SR in SE EF. Goes nowhere (what a surprise).

LA 961: Another dead end SR east of Clinton. Continues as a local road, then miraculously becomes state owned again (as LA 3255), another dead end SR stub ending at LA 432. This was all LA 961 at one time: the locally maintained middle section was actually decommissioned some time ago; the state then belatedly renumbered one of the remaining sections as per the high SR number.

LA 963: Useless lateral connector NE of Clinton. (They never go out of style here in La.)

LA 3255: See LA 961. I refuse to waste copy on two worthless SRs if they can be sufficiently covered in one listing.

WEST FELICIANA MINOR SRs:

West Feliciana is known for many things: St. Francisville, historic plantations, wonderful scenery, Angola prison, many useless state highways, and miles and miles of Siberia-like emptiness. Actually, if you want to see real nothingness, travel north of the state line, to Wilkinson County. The drive to Natchez is like the drive to Labrador. Though much more scenic, admittedly.

Actually, in numbers, WF has a light load of minor SRs.

LA 421: Loops through the wastelands of the NE part of the parish, connecting (albeit very indirectly) Jackson and Laurel Hill.

LA 964: In WF, the “Old Scenic” section ends and there is a short multiplex with US 61, and then a spur south to a now shuttered paper mill along Thompson “Submachine Gun” Creek. This spur was the original LA 964 as Old Scenic was US 61 back in 1955.

LA 965: An alternate though less direct route between Jackson and St. Francisville, running parallel to and south of LA 10, then spurring west of US 61 to end somewhere near the Riverbend nuclear power plant (one of the few employers of the parish workforce besides Angola). Serves the Audubon State Historic Site (beautiful Oakley Plantation – definitely worth a trip).

LA 966: Aimless loop like road between LA 965 and US 61 at Star Hill.

LA 967: Spur north from LA 421 to the state line, where the road continues as a county road. This local road, in tandem with LA 967 and 421, is the official short route between Jackson (LA) and Woodville MS, and as such is semi-important.

LA 968: Tiny spur off LA 66 penetrating into the Tunica Hills.

LA 969: Short spur off LA 66 north to the state line, where the road continues north (seemingly forever) to serve the thriving ‘burgs’ of Pinckneyville and Pond, and ending in Woodville. (Huh huh huh huh huh huh…….he said wood, Beavis)

LA 3057: Old US 61 thru the center of St. Francisville. Partially signed as Business US 61.

LA 3190: Like LA 3075, basically the tarmac for a pair of ferry landings. The landings serve the Angola ferry (restricted from the general public, please), which links LA 418 on the westbank to internal prison roads on the eastbank. The ferry is the only one in the state operated by the Dept. of Corrections, and is only open to Angola prison employees and their family members, approved guests, and, uh, new residents.

ST. HELENA PARISH MINOR SRs:

The task of doing write-ups for all these useless Bible Belt SRs (most of which I have never driven anyway) is so unappealing to me, I am going to make these as short and sweet as possible.

Most of them are covered in the Livingston write-ups, anyhow.

LA 440: Cuts a long and miserable swath across St. H, Tangipahoa, and Washington Parishes. Passes through the town of Tangipahoa, and little else.

LA 448: A lateral connection in W St H paralleling the Amite River. Terminates in the locale of Darlington.

LA 1041: Runs SE from the community of Pine Grove, globally famous as the home of the Kleinpeter Dairy farm. Got milk?

LA 1042: Aimlessly spurs west of Greensburg to end somewhere in the wastes of central St H. Continues as a parish road.

LA 1043: A pointless loop connection NW of Greensburg.

LA 1044: Spurs northward in NW St H to the state line, where MS proves the route’s pointlessness by reducing it to a county maintained road.

LA 1045: Lateral connection to the west of Amite (City). I have no idea why the state calls the town ‘Amite City’ on signs and maps when everyone else calls it Amite.

LA 1046: Aimlessly pokes around about a mile to the north of LA 1045, essentially paralleling it.

LA 1047: Worthless connector between LA 1046 and 1048. At least the numbering is consistent if anything.

LA 1048: An east-west road connecting LA 441 in St H with US 51/LA 10 at Arcola in Tangipahoa Parish. Interchanges with I-55 (a rarity for any 4 digit SR) as the offering for Arcola and Roseland.


POINTE COUPEE MINOR SRs:

One more parish and we’re done with metro BR! I promise!

Pointe Coupee (meaning “cut point” in French, as if you couldn’t figure that out yourself) is best known for endless sugarcane fields and even more endless wastelands.

LA 413: For the most part follows the east shore of the False River, which in reality is an oxbow lake of the Miss. River lined wall to wall with fishing camps.

LA 414: A connector road SE of New Roads (what a fitting name for a town with all the useless SRs in the area). Follows the arc of the old Miss. River channel, which also was responsible for the existence of the False River.

LA 416: Read description of LA 414; this road is just further south, on the south side of what local folks call “The Island” (not because of that stupid film starring Scarlett Johanssen, but because this is the land between False River and the Miss. River, which is cut off almost like an island).

LA 417: One of the most tragic wastes of SR on record, this almost 25 mile long stinker in north PC passes through some of the most desolate wasteland the Basin has to offer. Parallels the Atchfalaya River for the most part. A gap in state coverage exists somewhat to the north of the south terminus at LA 10.

LA 418: Another long road which serves little and sees little traffic. Wraps along the curve of the northern boundary of the parish which follows the Atchafalaya, Old, and Miss. Rivers.

LA 419: Another route in the series of pointless north PC SRs, LA 419 intersects LA 1 at the locale of Batchelor, the route’s only destination of consequence - which consists of a combined gas station and Post Office in a sugarcane field. To quote Eric Cartman: “Super weak.”

LA 420: Mostly follows the river road from a point on LA 1 east of Morganza to LA 10 north of New Roads. Useful if you want to bypass New Roads to get to and from the Miss. River ferry. The completion of the Audubon Bridge a few years hence will, however, put what little utility this route possesses to rest.

LA 970: Lame connector road in the north part of the parish. Its only claim to fame is that it multiplexes with the southernmost portion of LA 15, since it preceded LA 15 in life in that area.

LA 971: Another useless north PC route which curves along a minor bayou from LA 1 to LA 418 in the vicinity of the Innis/Lettsworth megalopolis.

LA 972: Connector between the stub end of LA 419 along the levee east of Batchelor back to LA 1. Useful in case of a wrong turn so you don’t get lost in the wilderness.

LA 973: Really short stub off of LA 417 somewhere NE of Melville.

LA 976: So short most maps refuse to show it, this is a useless connector between US 190 and the parallel section of LA 81 between Lottie and Livonia.

LA 978: A connection between US 190 at the locale of Torbert and LA 1 at the Sesame Street-inspired name community of Oscar “The Grouch”, Louisiana. Their streets must get real garbagey.

LA 979: Connector between LA 978 and LA 78 NE of Livonia; the last road to follow Bayou Grosse Tete.

LA 980: This decommissioned route was West End Drive in New Roads.

LA 981: Loops along the river road to the NE of New Roads, connecting LA 415 and LA 10.

LA 3050: This worthless SR basically parallels LA 1 on the opposite side of the KCS tracks in Morganza, and is a dead end to boot.

LA 3131: Saving the best for last, LA 3131 is not like these other hucksters. It serves an important purpose as a bypass/cutoff of New Roads for LA 1, which makes a lengthy and superfluous detour into the heart of that town (admittedly one worth making if you like small towns) before resuming its northwestward trajectory. This road should probably be designated as mainline LA 1, with the current route redesignated as a business route.

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