Louisiana Highway 1
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| Louisiana Highway 1 | |||||||||
| Length: | 436.20 mi[1] (702.00 km) | ||||||||
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| Formed: | 1955 renumbering | ||||||||
| South end: | dead end in Grand Isle | ||||||||
| Major junctions: |
 US 90 near Raceland I-10 in Port Allen  I-49/US 167 in Alexandria I-20 in Shreveport |
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| North end: |  SH 77 near Atlanta, TX |
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Louisiana Highway 1 (LA 1) is a state highway in Louisiana that serves the following parishes (from south to north):
- Jefferson
- Lafourche
- Assumption
- Ascension
- Iberville
- West Baton Rouge
- Pointe Coupee
- Avoyelles
- Rapides
- Natchitoches
- Red River
- Caddo
At 436.20 miles (702.00 km), it is the longest numbered highway of any class in Louisiana.[1] It runs diagonally across the state, connecting the oil and gas fields near Grand Isle with the northwest corner of the state, north of Shreveport.
The part south of U.S. Highway 90 near Raceland is Corridor 44, a National Highway System High Priority Corridor. From Alexandria to Shreveport, the LA 1 corridor was used for Interstate 49.
Between New Roads, Louisiana, and the interchange with I-49 at Alexandria, Louisiana, LA 10 forms part of the Zachary Taylor Parkway.
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[edit] Route description
The southern terminus of LA 1 (29°15′37″N 89°57′49″W / 29.2603°N 89.9637°W) is at a dead end in Grand Isle on the south bank of Bayou Rigaud. It heads southwest and west through Grand Isle, turning northwest where it meets LA 3090 (the road to Port Fourchon). At Leeville the road crosses Bayou Lafourche on the Leeville Bridge and begins to parallel the bayou on its west bank, heading through towns such as Lockport, Raceland, Thibodaux, Napoleonville and Paincourtville. At Donaldsonville, where the bayou meets the Mississippi River, LA 1 turns northwest to parallel the river. (Southeast of Donaldsonville, LA 18 and LA 3089/LA 3127 parallel the Mississippi.)
From Donaldsonville to Port Allen, across the Mississippi from Baton Rouge, LA 1 generally parallels the Mississippi River. It takes a relatively straight inland route, bypassing the curves of the river followed by LA 405 and LA 988. At Port Allen, it meets U.S. Highway 190 at the west end of the Huey P. Long Bridge, and turns west with US 190 to past Erwinville. There it turns back north, running along several back channels and oxbows of the Mississippi to New Roads (which is bypassed by LA 3131), and then heading west from New Roads to Morganza with LA 10 (still paralleling the Mississippi). From Morganza to Lettsworth, LA 1 heads northwest near the Mississippi; LA 15 begins in Lettsworth and continues north along the river while LA 1 continues generally northwest towards Alexandria.
LA 1 heads inland through such towns as Moreauville and Marksville to Alexandria, where it meets the Pineville Expressway (U.S. Highway 165/LA 28). LA 1 turns southwest along its frontage roads - Fulton Street and Casson Street - along with LA 28 Business and U.S. Highway 167 Business to its end at Interstate 49, and continues southwest on Mason Street and northwest on Bolton Avenue.
From Alexandria to Shreveport, LA 1 generally parallels Interstate 49, including a bypass around Natchitoches. Louisiana Highway 1 Business runs through downtown Natchitoches before rejoining the original highway just northwest of the city limits. It passes through Shreveport on Youree Drive, Spring Street and Market Street, running concurrently with U.S. Highway 71 from Interstate 20 downtown to a split north of downtown. From Shreveport to the border with Texas, where LA 1 becomes State Highway 77, LA 1 passes through towns such as Oil City, Vivian and Rodessa.
[edit] Highway 1 Expressway
In an effort to speed evacuations of Grand Isle and Port Fourchon in the event of a hurricane, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development has rapidly been working on converting the highway from Golden Meadow to Port Fourchon into an elevated tolled expressway.
The LA 1 Expressway will be a 19-mile toll road from Golden Meadow to the Gulf of Mexico. The need to build an elevated expressway has become critical, as existing LA 1 is literally sinking into the water. Each year, tropical storms pose more of a threat to LA 1, which often floods even in low-level storms and strands coastal residents, tourists and the oil industry workers who use our Port Fourchon as a primary access to Gulf operations.
In the past funding for the project has not been available and the need for the project is critical. So, the only way to pay for the bridge is by collecting toll revenues. By law, LA 1 toll revenues may only be utilized to pay back construction loan debt the Louisiana Transportation Authority undertook in order to construct the new LA 1 Expressway.
This project will replace our storm-vulnerable, subsiding highway by constructing one of the longest bridges in Louisiana and the Americas.
The first portion of this project, a toll bridge over Bayou Lafourche, opened on July 8, 2009. Tolling of the new bridge began on August 3.
LA 1 is the first road or bridge in Louisiana to use "open road tolling" technology. Open road tolling has been adopted for most new expressways as the most convenient, driver-friendly system.
The bridge operates without a toll booth, requiring that travelers pre-pay either online, by phone, or at one of five kiosks north of the expressway, or that they use a transponder known as the "GeauxPass".[2]
Tolls are collected electronically by overhead equipment located along the toll expressway. The technology communicates with a transponder you place in the inside, upper left corner of your car windshield. The system automatically deducts the appropriate fee from your account. Each time you drive on the LA 1 Expressway, Crescent City Connection or any other future GeauxPass toll facility, the appropriate fee will be deducted from the balance in your account as your car passes through the toll facility.
The next phase from Leeville to Port Fourchon is not scheduled to open until Summer 2011. Funding is being secured for the section between Leeville and Golden Meadow with the eventual 4 laning of the entire corridor.
[edit] See also
- Corridor 44
- LA 308, which runs across Bayou Lafourche from LA 1 south of Donaldsonville
- LA 3235, a bypass south from Cut Off
- List of bridges in the United States
- List of bridges by length
[edit] References
- ^ a b Louisiana State Highway Log
- ^ "GeauxPass Kiosk Location Map". LA 1 Coalition. http://www.la1coalition.org/images/LA1_KioskMap_8.5x11_060409_final.pdf. Retrieved October 11, 2009.
[edit] External links
- LA 1 Coalition (supports improving the southern part of LA 1)
- Zachary Taylor Parkway
