Louisiana Highway 24 (LA 24) is a
state highway
A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...
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
LA 20 in
Schriever to
LA 3235 in
Larose.
The route has two distinct sections, the longer of which travels through
Terrebonne Parish
Terrebonne Parish ( ; French: ''Paroisse de Terrebonne'') is a parish located in the southern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2010 census, the population was 111,860, and 110,461 in 2019. In 2020, its population declined to 109,58 ...
on either side of
Bayou Terrebonne
In usage in the Southern United States, a bayou () is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area. It may refer to an extremely slow-moving stream, river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), marshy lake, wetland, or creek. They ...
. It serves as the main highway through the city of
Houma, which is also the
parish seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
. This portion of the highway is bannered east–west, though it runs primarily north–south. Southeast of Houma, LA 24 does assume an east–west trajectory as it turns away from Bayou Terrebonne and proceeds to the
Lafourche Parish
Lafourche Parish (french: Paroisse de la Fourche) is a parish located in the south of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Thibodaux. The parish was formed in 1807. It was originally the northern part of Lafourche Interior Parish, whi ...
community of Larose, located at the junction of
Bayou Lafourche
Bayou Lafourche ( ), originally called Chetimachas River or La Fourche des Chetimaches, (the fork of the Chitimacha), is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 20, 2011 ba ...
and the
Gulf Intracoastal Waterway
The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is the portion of the Intracoastal Waterway located along the Gulf Coast of the United States. It is a navigable inland waterway running approximately from Carrabelle, Florida, to Brownsville, Texas.
The waterwa ...
.
LA 24 was designated in the
1955 Louisiana Highway renumbering, its two sections previously bearing different designations—
State Route 69 along Bayou Terrebonne and
State Route 966 along the
Bourg
Bourg or Le Bourg may refer to:
Places
France Bourg
* Bourg, Aisne, a former commune in France, now part of Bourg-et-Comin
* Bourg, Bas-Rhin, a former commune in Bas-Rhin, now part of Bourg-Bruche
* Bourg, Gironde, also known as Bourg-sur-Gir ...
-Larose Highway. Like many of the region's older rural highways, the former evolved from the natural strip of high ground that formed on the banks of the bayou while the latter was constructed on a man-made embankment by the state highway department in the early 1930s.
Route description
Schriever to Houma
From the west, LA 24 begins at an interchange with
LA 20 in
Schriever, a small community located just south of
Thibodaux
Thibodaux ( ) is a city in, and the parish seat of, Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, United States, along the banks of Bayou Lafourche in the northwestern part of the parish. The population was 15,948 at the 2020 census. Thibodaux is a principal city ...
. The interchange is located at a point where LA 20 changes its direction from east to north en route from
Gibson
Gibson may refer to:
People
* Gibson (surname)
Businesses
* Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment
* Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based
* Gi ...
to Thibodaux, simultaneously crossing over the
BNSF
BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...
/
Union Pacific
The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...
railroad line. LA 24 initially heads southeast from the base of the overpass as a standard divided four-lane highway. After a short distance, the travel lanes divide onto the
one-way pair
A one-way pair, one-way couple, or couplet refers to that portion of a bi-directional traffic facilitysuch as a road, bus, streetcar, or light rail linewhere its opposing flows exist as two independent and roughly parallel facilities.
Descripti ...
of West Main Street (eastbound) and West Park Avenue (westbound) to run on either side of
Bayou Terrebonne
In usage in the Southern United States, a bayou () is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area. It may refer to an extremely slow-moving stream, river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), marshy lake, wetland, or creek. They ...
.
While traveling from Schriever through the neighboring areas of
Magnolia
''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendro ...
,
Gray
Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...
, and
Bayou Cane, LA 24 intersects several other routes that follow parallel bayous. These include
LA 311 (Little Bayou Black),
LA 316 (Bayou Blue), and
LA 660 (Bayou Little Coteau). During this stretch, LA 24 also 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
US 90 at exit 202, which connects to
Morgan City and
. In Bayou Cane, LA 24 intersects
LA 3040 (Martin Luther King Boulevard), a parallel four-lane highway and commercial corridor through the city of
Houma.
Entering Houma proper, LA 24 turns eastward, maintaining its path flanking Bayou Terrebonne. The highway passes through the city's historic downtown area and intersects
LA 182, the pre-freeway alignment of US 90. LA 182 runs concurrent with LA 24 for two blocks as it zigzags from Barrow Street onto New Orleans Boulevard. Eastbound LA 182 still provides the most direct connection from Downtown Houma toward New Orleans, as US 90 now bypasses the city. Immediately east of New Orleans Boulevard, LA 24 crosses a high-level twin-span bridge over the
Gulf Intracoastal Waterway
The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is the portion of the Intracoastal Waterway located along the Gulf Coast of the United States. It is a navigable inland waterway running approximately from Carrabelle, Florida, to Brownsville, Texas.
The waterwa ...
. Returning to grade, LA 24 narrows to an undivided two-lane highway, as Main Street begins to carry two-way traffic at an intersection with
LA 57 (Grand Caillou Road). At this point, westbound LA 24 traffic crosses from the south side of Bayou Terrebonne to the north side by way of a
vertical lift bridge
A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck.
The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and sw ...
at the LA 57 junction. Park Avenue continues downstream as
LA 659, also carrying two-way traffic across the bayou from LA 24.
East Houma to Larose
Continuing through East Houma, LA 24 bends to the southeast with Bayou Terrebonne. An intersection with
LA 3087 (Prospect Boulevard) provides a connection with LA 182 north of the city. While passing alongside the
Houma-Terrebonne Airport, LA 24 begins to follow Bayou Petit Caillou, which branches off of Bayou Terrebonne. In an area known as
Presquille,
LA 56 picks up this route, while LA 24 makes a zigzag across both Bayous Petit Caillou and Terrebonne, exiting the Houma city limits, to assume the path of LA 659. Passing through the community of
Bourg
Bourg or Le Bourg may refer to:
Places
France Bourg
* Bourg, Aisne, a former commune in France, now part of Bourg-et-Comin
* Bourg, Bas-Rhin, a former commune in Bas-Rhin, now part of Bourg-Bruche
* Bourg, Gironde, also known as Bourg-sur-Gir ...
, LA 24 intersects
LA 316 and crosses another lift bridge over the Company Canal. Shortly afterward, LA 24 turns northeast away from Bayou Terrebonne at
Klondyke while
LA 55 assumes the route southeast toward
Montegut. LA 24 then curves eastward again and crosses from
Terrebonne Parish
Terrebonne Parish ( ; French: ''Paroisse de Terrebonne'') is a parish located in the southern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2010 census, the population was 111,860, and 110,461 in 2019. In 2020, its population declined to 109,58 ...
into
Lafourche Parish
Lafourche Parish (french: Paroisse de la Fourche) is a parish located in the south of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Thibodaux. The parish was formed in 1807. It was originally the northern part of Lafourche Interior Parish, whi ...
.
LA 24 follows the Bourg-Larose Highway through thickly wooded swampland for approximately , largely traveling alongside the hidden Bayou Blue. Soon after curving northward along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, LA 24 enters the unincorporated town of
Larose. The highway officially ends at a T-intersection with
LA 3235, a wide four-lane divided highway. LA 3235 parallels the two-lane
LA 1 southward toward
Grand Isle, providing a route for trucks and other through traffic in the area. Straight ahead, a local road continues the path of LA 24 to a junction with LA 1 where the latter crosses the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
Route classification and data
LA 24 is classified by the
Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (La DOTD) as an urban principal arterial for the majority of its route. During this stretch, the daily traffic volume peaked at 26,000 vehicles in Houma during 2013. The easternmost portion of the route along the Bourg-Larose Highway, however, is classified as a rural minor arterial with traffic volume reported as low as 6,600 vehicles.
The posted speed limit ranges from in rural areas to through the center of Houma.
The entirety of LA 24 is part of the
Wetlands Cultural 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
Pre-1955 route designations
In the
original Louisiana Highway system in use prior to 1955, the modern LA 24 was split between two different routes. The longer portion along Bayou Terrebonne from Schriever to Bourg made up the majority of
State Route 69, which also extended northwest to Thibodaux (now part of LA 20) and southeast to Montegut (now part of LA 55).
Route 69 was one of the first 98 state highway routes designated by the
Louisiana Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature (french: Législature d'État de Louisiane) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is a bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representa ...
in 1921 as part of an act which also created the Louisiana Highway Commission, an early forerunner of the
Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (La DOTD).
Like many of the region's older rural highways, this portion of LA 24 evolved from the strip of high ground that formed naturally on the banks of the bayou. By contrast, the remainder of LA 24 between Bourg and Larose follows a man-made embankment through swampland that was constructed in 1933 by the Highway Commission.
This portion of the route had been designated as
State Route 966 by an act of the state legislature in 1930.
1955 renumbering
Routes 69 and 966 were joined together under the single designation of LA 24 when the Louisiana Department of Highways, the successor to the Highway Commission, 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.
Subsequent improvements
Since 1955, the most significant change to LA 24 has been the widening of much of the highway to four lanes. Previously, the designation existed solely on the west side of Bayou Terrebonne between Schriever and Houma.
The opposite roadway, though discontinuous, had been part of the state highway system since 1930 as
State Route 965,
which became LA 659 in the 1955 renumbering.
In the late 1970s, it was incorporated into the route of LA 24 to carry westbound traffic from Houma north to a point near the present US 90 interchange, which was soon to be constructed.
By the late 1980s, the east bank roadway had been extended and improved to give LA 24 a continuous four-lane corridor between Schriever and Houma.
Many of the other improvements to LA 24 over the years have resulted from the construction and/or replacement of bridges along the route. In 1970, the western terminus at LA 20 in Schriever was converted from a simple T-intersection to a grade-separated interchange.
This occurred when a four-lane overpass of the
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
(now the BNSF/UP) line was constructed on LA 20, moving the route off of what is now Old Schriever Highway, which crossed the tracks at grade. In 1979, a new bridge running diagonally across Bayou Blue on the Bourg-Larose Highway eliminated a zigzag at that point, straightening the roadway.
In Houma, the two high-level bridges crossing the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway were constructed in 1996, replacing two grade-level
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 at the same location.
Additionally, the junction of LA 24 and US 90, the region's main highway, was moved from what is now LA 182 in Downtown Houma to the present freeway interchange near Gray. The interchange was constructed in 1980,
but the freeway existed under the temporary designation of
LA 3052 until being completed west to Morgan City in 1999.
Most recently, the eastern terminus of LA 24 was slightly truncated in 2015 when the final of the route were transferred to Lafourche Parish.
The designation formerly extended past LA 3235 and looped under the
West Larose Lift Bridge on LA 1 to intersect that highway at the bridge's eastern approach. This route forced trucks to navigate a tight right-angle turn immediately after a low clearance crossing under the lift bridge. The extension of LA 3235 from Galliano to Larose in the early 2000s eliminated this hazard, and signs now direct all through traffic to turn onto LA 3235 to reach LA 1, although the connection to northbound LA 1 is less direct.
Major intersections
See also
*
*
References
External links
{{Attached KML, display=inline,title
Maps / GIS Data Homepage Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development
Wetlands Cultural Bywayat Louisiana Scenic Byways
0024
Transportation in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana
Transportation in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana