Louisiana Highway 23

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Louisiana Highway 23
Length: 74.02 mi[1] (119.12 km)
Formed: 1955 renumbering
South end: Begin State Maintenance in Venice
Major
junctions:

BUS US 90 in Gretna
North end: LA 428 in Gretna
Highways in Louisiana
< LA 22 LA 24 >

Louisiana Highway 23 (LA 23) is a north-south state highway in Louisiana that serves Plaquemines and Jefferson Parishes. It spans 74.02 miles (119.12 km) in roughly a southeast/northwest direction. It is known locally as Belle Chasse Highway, Lafayette Street, the West Bank Expressway, and Franklin Avenue.

Contents

[edit] Route description

LA 23 connects Gretna and Venice. Between Belle Chasse and Venice, the highway serves as the main road along the west bank of the Mississippi River. LA 23 runs through the small rural towns of Jesuit Bend, Naomi, Myrtle Grove, West Pointe A La Hache, Port Sulphur, Nairn, Empire, Buras, Triumph, and Bootheville. With the exception of the portion running through Port Sulphur, the entire highway is four lanes (although it is not controlled access). It is a critical hurricane evacuation route for thousands of inhabitants along the west bank of the Mississippi River.

[edit] History

At one time, LA 23 ran straight across the Westbank Expressway (U.S. Highway 90 Business), using Lafayette Street, 5th Street and Huey P. Long Avenue through downtown Gretna and crossing the Jackson Avenue-Gretna Ferry onto Jackson Avenue in New Orleans.[2] By 1986, it had been rerouted, running along the Westbank Expressway frontage roads to Stumpf Boulevard and turning north on Stumpf and Franklin Avenue to end at Burmaster Street (LA 428).[3] The former LA 23 to 4th Street in downtown Gretna became an extension of LA 18, while the three blocks beyond to the ferry (and Jackson Avenue in New Orleans) are now unnumbered.

[edit] Junction list

Parish Location Mile Junction Notes
Plaquemines Venice Southern terminus of LA 23
0.00 Begin State Maintenance at Mississippi River Levee Crossing Local road begins to the southwest in Tidewater
Belle Chasse LA 406 (Woodland Highway) Southwestern terminus of LA 406
(Belle Chasse Highway) Crosses the ICWW (Judge Perez Bridge northbound/Belle Chasse Tunnel southbound)
LA 3017 (Engineers Road) Southern terminus of LA 3017
Jefferson Gretna LA 428 (Behrman Highway) Southern terminus of LA 428
Lapalco Boulevard westbound

BUS US 90 (West Bank Expressway)
LA 18 (Lafayette Street)
Exit 7/Diamond Interchange
Eastern terminus of LA 18
Begin


concurrency

BUS US 90 (West Bank Expressway)
Exit 8/Diamond Interchange
LA 23 turns onto Franklin Avenue via Stumpf Boulevard crossover
End


concurrency
LA 466 (Kepler Street) Eastern terminus of LA 466
74.02 LA 428
(Burmaster Street to the east)
(Franklin Avenue to the north)
Northern terminus of LA 23

[edit] References

  1. ^ Louisiana State Highway Log
  2. ^ 1975 AAA Triptik map of New Orleans
  3. ^ Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, 1986 Official Highway Map