Interstate 10 in Louisiana

This article is about the section of Interstate 10 in Louisiana. For the entire length of the highway, see Interstate 10.

Interstate 10
Route information
Maintained by Louisiana DOT
Length:	274.42 mi (441.64 km)
Existed:	1939 (planned); 1957 (numbered); ca. 1977 (completed) – present
Major junctions
West end:	I-10 / US 90 at Texas state line
	I-49 in Lafayette I-12 in Baton Rouge I-55 near LaPlace US 90 / US 90 Bus. in New Orleans I-12 / I-59 near Slidell
East end:	I-10 at Mississippi state line
Highway system
Main route of the Interstate Highway System Main • Auxiliary • Business Highways in Louisiana ← LA 9 LA 10 →

Interstate 10, a major transcontinental Interstate Highway in the Southern U.S., runs across the southern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It passes through Lake Charles, Lafayette and Baton Rouge before dipping south of Lake Pontchartrain to serve the New Orleans area and then passing through Slidell before leaving the state.

In August 2005, the I-10 Twin Span Bridge was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina, rendering it unusable. Initially, the bridge was repaired through a $30.9 million contract with Boh Brothers Construction Company. However, Louisiana has since replaced the bridge with two higher elevation spans in 2009 and 2010.

Route description

From Texas to Lafayette, I-10 parallels the older U.S. Route 90 corridor. From Lafayette, the highway heads east-northeast toward Baton Rouge via the Atchafalaya Swamp Freeway, an 18.2-mile (nearly 30 km) bridge across the Atchafalaya River and its accompanying swamp. Between the two cities, I-10 parallels U.S. Route 190, which runs from Opelousas to Baton Rouge. This route has signs and is designated as an alternate I-10 by-pass that runs from I-10/I-49 north to U.S. 190(exit 19B at Opelousas) then east across to Baton Rouge and back down to I-10 via I-110 south. Traffic can be diverted both ways along this route should there be the necessity to close I-10 across the Atchafalaya Swamp Freeway and is also used as a hurricane evacuation route.

I-10 running west of New Orleans, spans the Bonnet Carre Spillway at Lake Pontchartrain

In the Capital City, U.S. 190 continues east alongside Interstate 12 to Hammond and Slidell while I-10 turns southeastward and parallels U.S. Route 61 (Airline Highway) to New Orleans. In the Crescent City, I-10 rejoins U.S. 90 (and later U.S. Route 11) as it heads toward Slidell. In Slidell, U.S. 11 continues northeastward toward Hattiesburg, Mississippi while I-10 and U.S. 90 turn eastward toward coastal Mississippi.

Major bridges on I-10 in Louisiana include the Sabine River bridge (ca. 1952, replaced 2003), the Lake Charles I-10 Bridge (1952), the Atchafalaya Swamp Freeway (1973), the Horace Wilkinson Bridge over the Mississippi River (1968), the Bonnet Carré Spillway bridge (ca. 1972), the Industrial Canal Bridge (ca. 1960), the Twin Spans (1965), and the Pearl River bridge (ca. 1970).

Interstate 10 eastbound passing over Lake Charles/Calcasieu River near Lake Charles

Auxiliary routes

Interstate 10 crossing the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge over the Horace Wilkinson Bridge

• Interstate 110 is a spur northward through downtown Baton Rouge toward the northern part of the city. It was not in the original plans, but was added in the 1960s to replace the cancelled Interstate 410.
• Interstate 210 is a bypass around the south side of Lake Charles. It was added in 1962.
• Interstate 310 is a spur from I-10 west of New Orleans south to U.S. Highway 90 (future Interstate 49). It was part of a longer Interstate 410 from 1969 to 1977.
  • A previous Interstate 310 was added in 1964 and cancelled in 1969. It would have run from I-10 east of downtown New Orleans south and southwest through the French Quarter to the Greater New Orleans Bridge.
• The first Interstate 410 was a northern bypass of Baton Rouge along the Airline Highway (U.S. Highway 61/190) corridor. It was added in September 1955 and removed by the late 1960s.
  • The second Interstate 410 was defined in 1969 as a southern bypass of New Orleans, as a sort of replacement for the cancelled Interstate 310. The southern section of I-410 was cancelled in 1977, and the west and east legs became Interstate 310 and Interstate 510, respectively.
• Interstate 510 is a spur from I-10 in eastern New Orleans south to the Paris Road Bridge over the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway/(Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet Canal). It was part of a longer Interstate 410 from 1969 to 1977.
• Interstate 610 is a bypass for through traffic north of downtown New Orleans. It was added in September 1955.
• Interstate 910 is a piece of future Interstate 49 from downtown New Orleans south and west to Marrero. The temporary designation was assigned by the Federal Highway Administration and American Association of State Highway Officials in 1999, but is not signed and has not been accepted by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.

History

Until around 1960, Interstates 10 and 59 would have split near the present I-510 interchange in eastern New Orleans

By the beginning of planning for the Interstate Highway System in 1939 (then called the Interregional Highway System), the Houston-New Orleans-Mobile corridor was part of the system. Preliminary plans took it along U.S. 90 all the way through Louisiana, serving Lake Charles and Lafayette but not Baton Rouge. By ca. 1943, it had been shifted to the north west of New Orleans, using the Louisiana Highway 12, U.S. 190 and U.S. 61 corridors, and serving Baton Rouge but not Lake Charles or Lafayette. The 1947 plan shifted it to roughly the current alignment, including the long stretch of new corridor across the Atchafalaya Swamp. The corridor was assigned the Interstate 10 designation in mid-1957.

Prior to the gaining of federal funding for the Interstate System in the late 1950s, a toll road - the Acadian Thruway had been proposed between Lafayette and a point near Gramercy on Airline Highway (U.S. 61). This would have provided a shorter route than I-10, bypassing Baton Rouge to the south. The Gramercy Bridge was later built along its planned alignment, with Louisiana Highway 3125 connecting to Gramercy, but no road extends west from the bridge across the Atchafalaya Swamp to Lafayette.

Atchafalaya Swamp Freeway in Iberville Parish

Interstate 12, serving as a bypass of New Orleans around the north side of Lake Pontchartrain, was not added until October 17, 1957. At the time, I-10 and Interstate 59 split in eastern New Orleans, with I-59 following present I-10 and I-10 following the U.S. 90 corridor into Mississippi, and so I-12 only ran to I-59 north of Slidell. By the mid-1960s, the routes had been realigned to their current configuration, with I-12 and I-59 both ending at I-10 near Slidell.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the I-10 Twin Span Bridge, a portion of I-10 between New Orleans and Slidell spanning the eastern end of Lake Pontchartrain, was severely damaged, causing a break in I-10 at that point. Unlike the Escambia Bay Bridge (east of Pensacola, Florida and damaged by Hurricane Ivan) which is a major artery, Interstate 12 is available to bypass New Orleans and taking I-12 to the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway allowed entry and exit to and from the Greater New Orleans area from the East. On October 14, 2005 at 3:00 PM, the eastbound span was reopened to two way traffic. On January 6, 2006 at 6:00 AM, both lanes of the westbound span were reopened to traffic using temporary metal trusses and road panels to replace damaged sections. This restored all four lanes of the I-10 twin spans for normal traffic with a 45 mph (70 km/h) speed limit for the westbound lanes and 60 mph (100 km/h) for the eastbound lanes. Oversized and overweight traffic was prohibited until a new permanent six lane span replaced the two temporarily repaired spans. The eastbound span opened to traffic on July 9, 2009, and the westbound span opened on April 7, 2010, with the old bridge being permanently closed. The approaches to the westbound lanes are still to be completed and the old Twin Spans will be demolished in the near future.

Exit list

Parish	Location	#	Destinations	Notes
Calcasieu		1	Sabine River Turnaround	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		4	US 90 east / LA 109 – Toomey, Starks	East end of US 90 overlap
		7	LA 3063 – Vinton
		8	LA 108 – Vinton
	Sulphur	20	LA 1256 – Sulphur, Cameron
		21	LA 27 (Beglis Parkway) – DeQuincy
		23	LA 108 (Industries) – Sulphur
		25	I-210 east (Lake Charles Loop)
		26	US 90 west / PPG Drive, Trousdale Road	West end of US 90 overlap
		27	LA 378 – Westlake
	Bridge over Lake Charles (Calcasieu River)
	Lake Charles	29	LA 385 – Downtown Lake Charles	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		30A	To LA 385 / North Lakeshore Drive	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		30B	Ryan Street – Downtown Lake Charles	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		31A	US 90 Bus. east (Enterprise Boulevard)
		31B	Shattuck Street	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		31B	US 90 east to LA 14	East end of US 90 overlap; eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		32	Opelousas Street
		33	US 171 north – DeRidder, Shreveport
		33	LA 14 – Cameron	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		34	I-210 west (Loop)
		36	LA 397 – Creole, Cameron
		43	LA 383 – Iowa
Jefferson Davis		44	US 165 – Alexandria
		48	LA 101 – Lacassine
		54	LA 99 – Welsh
		59	LA 395 – Roanoke
		64	LA 26 – Elton, Jennings
		65	LA 97 – Evangeline, Jennings
Acadia		72	Trumps Road –Egan
		76	LA 91 – Iota, Estherwood
		80	LA 13 – Eunice, Crowley
		82	LA 1111 – East Crowley
		87	LA 35 / LA 98 – Church Point, Rayne
		92	LA 95 – Mire, Duson
Lafayette		97	LA 93 – Cankton, Scott
	Lafayette	100	LA 3184 (Ambassador Caffery Parkway)
		101	LA 182 (North University Avenue)
		103	I-49 north / US 167 to US 90 – Opelousas, Morgan City	Signed as exits 103A (south) and 103B (north)
		104	Louisiana Avenue, Johnston Street
Saint Martin		109	LA 328 – Breaux Bridge
		115	LA 347 – Cecilia, Henderson
		121	Butte La Rose (LA 3177)
Iberville		127	LA 975 – Whiskey Bay
		135	LA 3000 – Ramah, Maringouin
		139	LA 77 – Rosedale, Grosse Tete
West Baton Rouge		151	LA 415 to US 190 – Lobdell
		153	LA 1 – Port Allen, Plaquemine
	Horace Wilkinson Bridge over the Mississippi River
East Baton Rouge
	Baton Rouge	155A	LA 30 (Nicholson Drive) / Highland Road – LSU	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		155B	I-110 north – Downtown Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport	Signed as exit 155 westbound
		156C	Louise Street	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		156A	Washington Street	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		156B	Dalrymple Drive – LSU	No eastbound entrance
		157A	Perkins Road	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		157B	LA 427 (Acadian Thruway) – LSU	Signed as exit 157 westbound
		158	College Drive
		159	I-12 east – Hammond
		160	LA 3064 (Essen Lane)
		162	LA 1248 (Bluebonnet Boulevard) / Mall of Louisiana Boulevard	Signed as exits 162A (LA 1248) and 162B (Mall of Louisiana Boulevard)
		163	LA 3246 (Siegen Lane)
		166	LA 42 (Highland Road) / LA 427 (Perkins Road)
Ascension		173	LA 73 – Prairieville, Geismar
	Gonzales	177	LA 30 – Gonzales, St. Gabriel
		179	LA 44 – Gonzales, Burnside
		182	LA 22 – Sorrento, Donaldsonville
		187	US 61 – Gramercy, Sorrento
Saint James		194	LA 641 south – Gramercy, Lutcher
St. John the Baptist		206	LA 3188 south – LaPlace
		209	US 51 – LaPlace, Hammond
		210	I-55 north / US 51 north – Hammond	Eastbound exit is via exit 209
Saint Charles		220	I-310 south – Boutte, Houma
Jefferson	Kenner	221	Loyola Drive
		223	LA 49 (Williams Boulevard) / 32nd Street – New Orleans International Airport	Signed as exits 223A (LA 49) and 223B (Airport) westbound
	Metairie	224	Power Boulevard	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		225	Veterans Boulevard
		226	Clearview Parkway – Huey Long Bridge
		228	Causeway Boulevard – Mandeville
		229	Bonnabel Boulevard	Eastbound exit is via exit 228
		230	I-610 east – Slidell	No westbound exit
Orleans	New Orleans	231B	Florida Boulevard, West End Boulevard	Eastbound exit is via exit 230
		231A	City Park Avenue, Metairie Road	Signed as exit 231 westbound
		232	US 61 (Airline Drive, Tulane Avenue) / Carrollton Avenue
		234A	US 90 (Claiborne Avenue) / US 90 Bus. west – Superdome, Westbank	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		234B	Poydras Street – Superdome	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		234C	US 90 west (Claiborne Avenue) / US 90 Bus. west – Westbank	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		235B	Canal Street – Superdome	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		235A	Orleans Avenue – Vieux Carre
		236A	Esplanade Avenue	Eastbound exit only
		236B	LA 39 (North Claiborne Avenue)	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		236C	St. Bernard Avenue	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		237	LA 3021 (Elysian Fields Avenue)
		238B	I-610 west – Baton Rouge, New Orleans International Airport	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		238A	Franklin Avenue	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		239	Louisa Street, Almonaster Boulevard	Signed as exits 239A (south/east) and 239B (north/west) eastbound
		I-10 High Rise Bridge over the Inner Harbor Navigational Canal
		240A	Downman Road	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		240B	US 90 (Chef Highway)	Signed as exit 240 westbound
		241	Morrison Road
		242	Crowder Boulevard
		244	Read Boulevard
		245	Bullard Avenue
		246	I-510 south / LA 47 – Chalmette, Little Woods	Signed as exits 246A (south) and 246B (north)
		248	Michoud Boulevard
		249	Unsigned exit that leads to nothing	Exit closed
		251	Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge	Exit closed; construction traffic only
		254	US 11 – Irish Bayou, North Shore
I-10 Twin Span Bridge over Lake Pontchartrain
Saint Tammany		261	Lakeshore — Oak Harbor
	Slidell	263	LA 433 (Old Spanish Trail)
		265	US 190 Bus. (Fremaux Avenue)
		266	US 190 (Gause Boulevard)
		267A	I-59 north – Hattiesburg
		267B	I-12 west – Hammond, Baton Rouge

Future

A three-year construction project is currently underway on Interstate 10 between Causeway Boulevard and the 17th Street Canal in Metairie, Louisiana. The $68.9 million project will add new lanes in both directions and improve the exit and entrance ramps at Causeway and Bonnabel Blvd. The state has recently completed a widening project between Causeway and Clearview Pkwy and between the I-10/I-610 split and Airline Highway (US 61).

A 950-day project is set to begin at the end of 2008 between the I-10 / I-12 split (Exit 159) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Siegen Lane (Exit 163) in Baton Rouge, LA. This will widen the road by an additional lane in each direction.

There are also calls to remove the I-10 Claiborne Expressway in New Orleans and rename I-610 to I-10. The entire length of the Pontchartrain Expressway would likely be renamed as I-910 or I-49.

See also

• Airline Highway
• Acadian Thruway

References

Interstate 10
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