According to bestitude, US 51 is a US Highway in the US state of Louisiana. The road forms a north-south route from Laplace to the Mississippi border at Kentwood. US 51 is 111 kilometers long in Louisiana.
Travel directions
US 51 at Ponchatoula.
US 51 begins in Laplace on US 61, about 25 miles west of New Orleans, near the Mississippi River. US 51 almost directly coincides with Interstate 55 and crosses the 36.7-kilometer-long Manchac Swamp Bridge, over the swamps west of Lake Pontchartrain. The old US 51 is next to it, largely on a dike. Between Ponchatoula and Hammond, US 51 branches off again from I-55 and then forms the main street through Hammond. Here is also a connection to Interstate 12. The road then leads through relatively densely populated rural areas with many forest buildings, through Independence, Amite City and Kentwood to the Mississippi border, from where US 51 in Mississippiparallel to I-55 continues toward Jackson.
History
US 51 was created in 1926. US 51 then ended in Downtown New Orleans and was changed to Laplace in 1951 to avoid unnecessary duplication with US 61.
In the 1920s there were plans for the New Orleans–Hammond Lakeshore Highway, a scenic highway along the south and west shores of Lake Pontchartrain. Due to the problems with the swamps, this plan was ultimately not completed. Only the northern part of this section has been constructed along the west side of Lake Pontchartrain between Laplace and Hammond. This section was built on a slope by the Manchac Swamp and opened to traffic on April 1, 1927. The portion in what is now the New Orleans metropolitan area was completed in the early 1930s as State Highway 33 between New Orleans and Kenner. However, the part through the swamps in St. Charles Parish proved difficult to construct and cost a lot of money, while its usefulness was questioned as the nearby Airline Highway (US 61) was completed.
The construction of the Bonnet Carré Spillway in 1933 killed the project of a road along the shore of Lake Pontchartrain. The Bonnet Carré Spillway is an overflow from the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain at high tide. This was to prevent flooding in New Orleans. To this end, the water would have to flow unimpeded to Lake Pontchartrain, and an embankment at the location of the Lakeshore Highway would not fit. The project was then scrapped.
The original eastern section of the Lakeshore Highway in Jefferson Parish fell into disuse because it led nowhere. In the 1940s, a system of levees was built around Jefferson Parish to allow for further suburbanization of the region. The original Lakeshore Highway has largely disappeared, a small part still exists as the Old Hammond Highway around the 17th Street Canal on the border of New Orleans and Metairie.
After the causeway through the Manchac Swamp opened in 1927, traffic from New Orleans to the north no longer had to make the detour via Baton Rouge or Slidell. In 1979, the Manchac Swamp Bridge was built parallel to it, over which Interstate 55 runs. The US 51 was then led over this bridge, so that the old route no longer has a number, but is still called Old US 51.
Traffic intensities
23,500 vehicles drive daily between Laplace and I-55. 24,200 vehicles were on the south side of Hammond and 14,300 vehicles on the north side. The route further to Roseland has 7,000 to 8,000 vehicles and 2,500 vehicles further north.
US 79 in Louisiana
US 79
Get started
Bethany
End
Haynesville
Length
87 mi
Length
140 km
Route
Texas
Greenwood
Shreveport
Minden
Homer
Haynesville
Arkansas
According to biotionary, US 79 is a US Highway in the US state of Louisiana. The road forms a diagonal north-south route through the northwest of the state, from the Texas border through Shreveport to the Arkansas border. US 79 is 140 kilometers long in Louisiana.
Travel directions
US 79 in Texas comes from Carthage and heads northeast, after which a longish double numbering begins with US 80, parallel to Interstate 20. The double numbering leads east through Shreveport, after which the routes split in Minden. US 79 turns north and after Haynesville the border with Arkansas follows. US 79 in Arkansas continues toward Magnolia and Pine Bluff.
History
US 79 was created in 1935. The route has not changed significantly in Louisiana since then. In the 1960s and 1970s, Interstate 20 was built parallel to US 79 between Greenwood and Minden, rendering this section of US 79 no longer of through importance.
US 79 crosses the Red River at Shreveport via the Long–Allen Bridge, opened in 1933. This bridge was built between 1931 and 1933 and opened to traffic in September 1933. It was the first road bridge over the Red River in Shreveport and replaced a ferry service. The bridge was built primarily for US 80, but US 79 also lifts on it.
The stretch from Shreveport to Minden was widened to 2×2 lanes as early as the 1950s, before I-20 was built here. The four-lane sections of US 79 largely coincide with US 80, the individual sections of US 79 have not been upgraded much.
Future
In the future, Interstate 69 in Louisiana should be constructed roughly parallel to US 79.
Traffic intensities
Every day, 10,000 vehicles cross the Texas border and 1,700 to 6,600 vehicles parallel I-20 as far as Shreveport. In Shreveport, some 15,000 vehicles and 4,000 vehicles drive east to Minden. From Minden to Homer, 6,000 vehicles and 2,900 vehicles operate at the Arkansas border.
