Louisiana Highway 22 (LA 22) is a
state highway located in southeastern
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
. It runs in a general east–west direction from the junction of
LA 75 and
LA 942 in
Darrow to
U.S. Highway 190 (US 190) in
Mandeville.
The route traverses a variety of terrain and surroundings over the course of its journey, which begins at the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...
in rural
Ascension Parish
Ascension Parish (french: Paroisse de l'Ascension, es, Parroquia de Ascensión) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 126,500. Its parish seat is Donaldsonville. The parish was created ...
. It also crosses several navigable waterways with
movable bridge
A moveable bridge, or movable bridge, is a bridge that moves to allow passage for boats or barges. In American English, the term is synonymous with , and the latter is the common term, but drawbridge can be limited to the narrower, historical d ...
s spanning two of them: the
Amite River
The Amite River (french: Rivière Amite) is a tributary of Lake Maurepas in Mississippi and Louisiana in the United States. It is about long. It starts as two forks in southwestern Mississippi and flows south through Louisiana, passing Greate ...
and
Tchefuncte River
The Tchefuncte River ( ) drains into Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana in the United States. It is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 20, 2011
Etymology
The ...
. After crossing both
Interstate 10 (I-10) and
US 61 in
Sorrento
Sorrento (, ; nap, Surriento ; la, Surrentum) is a town overlooking the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the south-eastern terminus of the Circumvesuviana ra ...
, LA 22 winds through a cypress swamp in
Livingston Parish
Livingston Parish (Louisiana French: ''La Paroisse Livingston'') is a parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Its parish seat is the town of Livingston. Livingston Parish is one of the Florida Parishes, a region which, unlike the rest of the sta ...
west of
Lake Maurepas
Lake Maurepas ( ; french: Lac Maurepas) is located in southeastern Louisiana, approximately halfway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, directly west of Lake Pontchartrain.
Toponymy
Lake Maurepas was named for Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, com ...
.
Near the town of
Springfield, the highway enters the thick pine forest characterizing the north shore of
Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchartrain ( ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from wes ...
and intersects the concurrent
I-55
Interstate 55 (I-55) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The h ...
/
US 51 in
Ponchatoula
Ponchatoula is the second-largest city in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana. The population was 6,559 at the 2010 census and 7,545 at the time of the 2020 population estimates program.
Etymology
It is speculated that the name is derived from the Ch ...
. On its east end, LA 22 becomes a heavily traveled residential and commercial corridor in suburban
St. Tammany Parish between
Madisonville and Mandeville. This stretch runs south of the parallel
I-12 I12 or I-12 may refer to:
* I12 engine
* Interstate 12, a highway in the U.S. state of Louisiana
*
*Jönköping Regiment (1816–1927), a Swedish infantry regiment
*Småland Regiment (1928–1974), a Swedish infantry regiment
See also
* 1 ...
corridor and feeds traffic onto US 190 and the
Lake Pontchartrain Causeway
The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (french: Chaussée du lac Pontchartrain), also known simply as The Causeway, is a fixed link composed of two parallel bridges crossing Lake Pontchartrain in southeastern Louisiana, United States. The longer of th ...
to the
area.
LA 22 was designated in the
1955 Louisiana Highway renumbering, replacing portions of five shorter former routes. These included
State Route 761,
State Route 54,
State Route 160,
State Route 122, and
State Route 465. In its early years, LA 22 extended across the Mississippi River by ferry to
Donaldsonville prior to the existence of the nearby
Sunshine Bridge
The Sunshine Bridge is a cantilever bridge over the Mississippi River in St. James Parish, Louisiana. Completed in 1963, it carries Louisiana Highway 70 (LA 70), which connects Donaldsonville on the west bank of Ascension Parish with Sorr ...
. The route was also much shorter on its eastern end, terminating at a junction with US 51 and US 190 in Ponchatoula until the latter was re-routed through
Covington.
Route description
Darrow to Sorrento
From the west, LA 22 begins at a junction with
LA 75 and
LA 942 at the east bank levee of the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...
opposite the city of
Donaldsonville. The route heads northeast from the small
Ascension Parish
Ascension Parish (french: Paroisse de l'Ascension, es, Parroquia de Ascensión) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 126,500. Its parish seat is Donaldsonville. The parish was created ...
community of
Darrow as an undivided two-lane highway, traveling through
Hillaryville across the
Canadian National Railway (CN) line and to the rear of
Houmas House Plantation and Gardens. In
Burnside, LA 22 intersects
LA 44 and passes through a growing suburban area amidst the rural surroundings.
Entering the town of
Sorrento
Sorrento (, ; nap, Surriento ; la, Surrentum) is a town overlooking the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the south-eastern terminus of the Circumvesuviana ra ...
, the highway intersects
LA 70, which leads across the
Sunshine Bridge
The Sunshine Bridge is a cantilever bridge over the Mississippi River in St. James Parish, Louisiana. Completed in 1963, it carries Louisiana Highway 70 (LA 70), which connects Donaldsonville on the west bank of Ascension Parish with Sorr ...
to Donaldsonville. Shortly afterward, LA 22 widens to a divided four-lane highway and passes through a
diamond interchange
A diamond interchange is a common type of road junction, used where a controlled-access highway crosses a minor road.
Design
The freeway itself is grade-separated from the minor road, one crossing the other over a bridge. Approaching the ...
with
I-10 at exit 182, connecting with
Baton Rouge and
. LA 22 continues along John Leblanc Boulevard, which largely bypasses the populated portion of the town. The highway crosses the
Kansas City Southern Railway
The Kansas City Southern Railway Company is an American Class I railroad. Founded in 1887, it operates in 10 midwestern and southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and ...
(KCS) line, followed closely by
US 61 (
Airline Highway
Airline Highway is a divided highway in the U.S. state of Louisiana, built in stages between 1925 and 1953 to bypass the older Jefferson Highway. It runs , carrying U.S. Highway 61 from New Orleans northwest to Baton Rouge and U.S. Highway 19 ...
), which parallels the interstate between the aforementioned cities.
Sorrento to Lake Maurepas swamp
Narrowing back to two-lane capacity, LA 22 proceeds north from Sorrento to a T-intersection with
LA 429 just east of
St. Amant. It then turns due east briefly through an area known as
Acy. Resuming its northeastern trajectory, LA 22 begins to wind its way through the swampland that surrounds
Lake Maurepas
Lake Maurepas ( ; french: Lac Maurepas) is located in southeastern Louisiana, approximately halfway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, directly west of Lake Pontchartrain.
Toponymy
Lake Maurepas was named for Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, com ...
. The highway crosses a bridge over the wide
Amite River
The Amite River (french: Rivière Amite) is a tributary of Lake Maurepas in Mississippi and Louisiana in the United States. It is about long. It starts as two forks in southwestern Mississippi and flows south through Louisiana, passing Greate ...
Diversion Canal, which is lined by boat houses and fishing camps.
Continuing into
Livingston Parish
Livingston Parish (Louisiana French: ''La Paroisse Livingston'') is a parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Its parish seat is the town of Livingston. Livingston Parish is one of the Florida Parishes, a region which, unlike the rest of the sta ...
, LA 22 turns eastward at a T-intersection marking the terminus of
LA 16 south of
French Settlement. LA 16 leads to
Denham Springs
Denham Springs is a city in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, United States. The 2010 U.S. census placed the population at 10,215, up from 8,757 at the 2000 U. S. census. At the 2020 United States census, 9,286 people lived in the city. The city is ...
and
Walker
Walker or The Walker may refer to:
People
* Walker (given name)
*Walker (surname)
* Walker (Brazilian footballer) (born 1982), Brazilian footballer
Places
In the United States
*Walker, Arizona, in Yavapai County
*Walker, Mono County, California ...
, the most populated areas of the parish, located along
I-12 I12 or I-12 may refer to:
* I12 engine
* Interstate 12, a highway in the U.S. state of Louisiana
*
*Jönköping Regiment (1816–1927), a Swedish infantry regiment
*Småland Regiment (1928–1974), a Swedish infantry regiment
See also
* 1 ...
. LA 22 follows a serpentine path through several small communities along the Amite River, such as
Head of Island,
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Sq ...
, and
Maurepas Maurepas may refer to:
* Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas, French statesman Count of Maurepas (Yvelines)
* Fort Maurepas, also known as Old Biloxi, a settlement in Louisiana (New France)
* Maurepas, Louisiana, an unincorporated comm ...
. Curving again to the northeast, LA 22 crosses the river via
swing bridge
A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pi ...
and passes through
Killian, located at a junction with
LA 444. The route then proceeds across a higher and longer bridge spanning the
Tickfaw River
The Tickfaw River runs U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 20, 2011 from Amite County in southwest Mississippi to Livingston Parish in southeast Louisiana. Its mouth ...
, allowing a splendid view of the surrounding cypress swamp.
Springfield and Ponchatoula
Entering the small town of
Springfield, LA 22 turns northwest briefly at a T-intersection with
LA 1037 (Collum Road). The two routes proceed along the town's main street in a
wrong-way concurrency
A concurrency in a road network is an instance of one physical roadway bearing two or more different route numbers. When two roadways share the same right-of-way, it is sometimes called a common section or commons. Other terminology for a concurr ...
until reaching Walnut Street. From this four-way intersection, LA 1037 turns west toward
Tickfaw State Park,
LA 42 begins and proceeds along the main street, while LA 22 turns east across the
Natalbany River
The Natalbany River drains into Lake Maurepas in Louisiana in the United States. It is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 8, 2019
Etymology
It is specu ...
into
Tangipahoa Parish
Tangipahoa Parish (; French: ''Paroisse de Tangipahoa'') is a parish located in the southeast corner of the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 121,097. The parish seat is Amite City, while the largest city is ...
.
Immediately across the parish line, LA 22 intersects
LA 1249, which heads north through
Pumpkin Center to a junction with I-12. For the remainder of its journey, LA 22 travels about to the south of I-12, the main east–west highway through the
Florida Parishes
The Florida Parishes ( es, Parroquias de Florida, french: Paroisses de Floride), on the east side of the Mississippi River—an area also known as the Northshore or Northlake region—are eight List of parishes in Louisiana, parishes in the southe ...
on the north shore of
Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchartrain ( ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from wes ...
. With the terrain having transitioned from swampland to pine forest, the surroundings become more consistently populated as LA 22 heads into the small city of
Ponchatoula
Ponchatoula is the second-largest city in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana. The population was 6,559 at the 2010 census and 7,545 at the time of the 2020 population estimates program.
Etymology
It is speculated that the name is derived from the Ch ...
. On the outskirts of town, LA 22 widens to four lanes as it passes through a full
cloverleaf interchange with the concurrent
I-55
Interstate 55 (I-55) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The h ...
/
US 51, connecting with the larger nearby city of
Hammond, as well as New Orleans.
Just east of the interchange, LA 22 begins a concurrency with
US 51 Bus. opposite
Ponchatoula Cemetery and gains a center turning lane for a short distance. After traveling several blocks on Pine Street through the historic commercial section of town, US 51 Bus. turns off to the south along the CNRR tracks. East of Ponchatoula, LA 22 resumes as a two-lane highway through the thick pine woods for before crossing into
St. Tammany Parish at
Bedico. During this stretch, the highway crosses the
Tangipahoa River
The Tangipahoa River ( ) originates northwest of McComb in southwest Mississippi, and runs south U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 20, 2011 through Lake Tangipahoa in ...
and intersects
LA 445, another connection to I-12.
St. Tammany Parish
Curving slightly to the southeast, LA 22 heads into the small town of
Madisonville, where it becomes known as Mulberry Street. The route crosses
LA 21 and
LA 1077 at a four-way intersection with Main Street, which leads north toward
Covington and south alongside the
Tchefuncte River
The Tchefuncte River ( ) drains into Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana in the United States. It is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 20, 2011
Etymology
The ...
to the shore of Lake Pontchartrain and the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum. LA 22 crosses the river by way of a second swing bridge, providing views of several upscale houses on the water. Groves of ancient
live oak
Live oak or evergreen oak is any of a number of oaks in several different sections of the genus ''Quercus'' that share the characteristic of evergreen foliage. These oaks are not more closely related to each other than they are to other oaks. ...
trees line the roadway as it passes briefly through
Fairview-Riverside State Park
Fairview-Riverside State Park is a tourist attraction east of Madisonville, Louisiana, United States. Its is set along the banks of the Tchefuncte River. Within the park is the Otis House Museum, built in 1885, which was placed on the Nationa ...
. LA 22 then becomes lined with residential subdivisions and commercial shopping strips as it enters the city of
Mandeville. For this stretch, the roadway widens to accommodate an extra travel lane for westbound traffic only, as well as a center turning lane.
A divided four-lane thoroughfare known as West Causeway Approach branches off of LA 22 and provides access to several area schools and more residential subdivisions. It also acts as a long ramp to the
Lake Pontchartrain Causeway
The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (french: Chaussée du lac Pontchartrain), also known simply as The Causeway, is a fixed link composed of two parallel bridges crossing Lake Pontchartrain in southeastern Louisiana, United States. The longer of th ...
, a toll bridge to the New Orleans area. LA 22 proceeds about further to its eastern terminus at a diamond interchange with US 190 and North Causeway Boulevard. From this interchange, US 190 heads north on a four-lane freeway alignment toward Covington and straight ahead (east) as a four-lane boulevard through Mandeville. North Causeway Boulevard continues the freeway southward as the main route to the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway.
Route classification and data
LA 22 has several different classifications over the course of its route, as determined by the
Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (La DOTD). More than half of the route is classified as a rural major collector, including two large portions from Acy to Springfield and from Ponchatoula to Madisonville. The remainder generally alternates between an urban collector and an urban minor arterial, with the exception of the western portion of the route between Darrow and Sorrento, which is classified as a rural minor collector.
Daily traffic volume in 2013 peaked at 27,200 vehicles through the suburban and commercial corridor between Madisonville and Mandeville. High counts were also reported near the I-10 and I-55 interchanges in Sorrento and Ponchatoula, respectively. The lowest numbers occurred along the lightly populated stretch in Livingston Parish southwest of Killian with 1,700 vehicles daily.
The posted speed limit is for most of the route but is reduced as low as through town.
The entirety of LA 22 from Sorrento to Ponchatoula is part of the
Southern Swamps Byway in the state-designated system of tourist routes known as the
Louisiana Scenic Byways
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...
.
History
In the
original Louisiana Highway system in use between 1921 and 1955, LA 22 was part of five shorter routes:
State Route 761 from Darrow through Burnside;
State Route 54 through Sorrento;
State Route 160 to Springfield;
State Route 122 to Madisonville;
and
State Route 465 to Mandeville.
These highways were joined together under the single designation of LA 22 when the
Louisiana Department of Highways renumbered the state highway system in 1955.
With the
1955 renumbering, the state highway department initially categorized all routes into three classes: "A" (primary), "B" (secondary), and "C" (farm-to-market).
This system has since been updated and replaced by a more specific
functional classification
The functional classification of a road is the class or group of roads to which the road belongs. There are three main functional classes as defined by the United States Federal Highway Administration
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) ...
system.
As the above description indicates, the route initially had different termini. On its western end, LA 22 once crossed the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...
by ferry between Darrow and Donaldsonville and continued along what is now
LA 18 to its junction with
LA 1.
However, the ferry service was discontinued in 1966 after the Sunshine Bridge was completed just downriver from Donaldsonville.
On its eastern end, LA 22 originally terminated in Ponchatoula since the highway extending from there to Mandeville was temporarily part of US 190 at the time of the 1955 renumbering.
When US 190 was returned to its regular route through Covington the following year, LA 22 was extended to its current terminus at
Chinchuba, an area now within the Mandeville city limits.
The actual terminus was a simple
Y-intersection
A three-way junction (or three-way intersection) is a type of road intersection with three arms. A Y junction (or Y intersection) generally has three arms of equal size coming at an acute or obtuse angle to each other; while a T junction (or T i ...
at what is now
LA 3228 (Asbury Drive) until the present diamond interchange aligned with North Causeway Boulevard was constructed in 1981.
Several small realignments to the roadway over the years have resulted from the replacement of bridges across three rivers in Livingston Parish. The first was a new bridge across the Natalbany River at Springfield in 1956.
About this same time, two 90-degree turns were eliminated as the route was straightened coming into town from the south.
In 1974, the current Amite River span was constructed,
and most recently, the Tickfaw River bridge was replaced in 2000.
In all three cases, portions of the original bridge approaches survive as dead-end local roads, although the bridges themselves have been removed.
The only other significant realignment to LA 22 occurred in 1990 when Sorrento's Main Street was bypassed by a new four-lane alignment (John Leblanc Boulevard) that facilitated traffic between I-10 and US 61. This included the construction of a twin-span bridge across a small waterway known as
Bayou Conway.
Future
La DOTD is currently engaged in a program that aims to transfer about of state-owned roadways to local governments over the next several years.
Under this plan of "right-sizing" the state highway system, two portions of LA 22 are proposed for deletion as they no longer meet a significant interurban travel function. These consist of the westernmost section of the route between Darrow and LA 70 in Sorrento
and the section between LA 16 and Killian.
Major intersections
See also
*
*
Notes
References
External links
{{Attached KML, display=inline,title
Maps / GIS Data Homepage Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development
Southern Swamps Bywayat Louisiana Scenic Byways
0022
Transportation in Ascension Parish, Louisiana
Transportation in Livingston Parish, Louisiana
Transportation in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana
Transportation in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana