Interstate 10 in Louisiana

Infobox road
state=LA
route=10
type=I


maint=
length_mi=274.42
length_round=2
length_ref= [ [http://www.southeastroads.com/la_interstates.html Louisiana Interstate Highway Log] ]
year_established=1939 (planned); 1957 (numbered);
ca. 1977 (completed)
direction_a=West
terminus_a=
junction=
direction_b=East
terminus_b=
previous_type=LA
previous_route=9
next_type=LA
next_route=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 New Orleans and Baton Rouge as well as through smaller cities such as Lake Charles and Lafayette. It dips south of Lake Pontchartrain to serve New Orleans, while Interstate 12 provides a shortcut to the north of the lake for through traffic.

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.

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 Calcasieu River 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).

Major cities

Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs. [ [http://users.adelphia.net/~pwolf/controlcities.html List of Control Cities for Use in Guide Signs on Interstate Highways] ]
* Beaumont, Texas
* Sulphur
* Lake Charles
* Jennings
* Crowley
* Rayne
* Lafayette
* Baton Rouge
* Gonzales
* Laplace
* Kenner
* Metairie
* New Orleans
* Slidell
* Bay St. Louis, Mississippi

Auxiliary routes

* 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 September 1955.]
* 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.Richard F. Weingroff, [http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/neworleans.htm The Second Battle of New Orleans - Vieux Carré Riverfront Expressway (I-310)] ]
** 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

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.]

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.

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., ca. 1963]

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 decided it will be necessary to replace the bridge completely.

The Atchafalaya Swamp Freeway opened in March 1973. [Richard F. Weingroff, [http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/summer96/p96su28.htm Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways - Engineering Marvels] ] This stretch of Interstate 10 was closed November 15 - 25, 2007, following a natural gas well explosion. Traffic was diverted to U.S. 190 and U.S. 90, causing severe congestion due to the Thanksgiving holiday. [Associated Press, [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5315186.html Gas well blowout to inhibit highway traffic into December] ]

Exit list

ee also

*Airline Highway
*Acadian Thruway

References