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 southeast to northwest direction from 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 f ...
levee in
Chalmette
Chalmette ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in, and the parish seat of, St. Bernard Parish in southeastern Louisiana, United States. The 2010 census reported that Chalmette had 16,751 people; 2011 population was listed as 17,119; however, th ...
to the intersection of Hayne Boulevard and Downman Road in
New Orleans
New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...
.
LA 47 makes the shape of the number "7" and begins as a north–south route that travels along Paris Road through
Chalmette
Chalmette ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in, and the parish seat of, St. Bernard Parish in southeastern Louisiana, United States. The 2010 census reported that Chalmette had 16,751 people; 2011 population was listed as 17,119; however, th ...
, an unincorporated suburb of New Orleans and the
seat
A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense.
Types of seat
The following are examples of different kinds of seat:
* Armchair (furniture), ...
of neighboring St. Bernard Parish. North of Chalmette, LA 47 crosses a high-level 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 ...
and transitions to a controlled-access
freeway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...
that doubles as
Interstate 510
Interstate 510 (I-510) is a short spur route of I-10 within eastern New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It runs south from I-10, intersects with U.S. Route 90, and ends at the Almonaster Boulevard interchange, near the NASA Mich ...
(I-510). This stretch contains interchanges with both I-10 and U.S. Highway 90 (US 90), two major routes heading east out of New Orleans. The above segments of LA 47 serve not only as the primary north–south thoroughfare through Chalmette but also provide a vital hurricane evacuation route for residents of St. Bernard Parish and the east bank portion of
Plaquemines Parish
Plaquemines Parish (; French: ''Paroisse de Plaquemine'', Louisiana French: ''Paroisse des Plaquemines'', es, Parroquia de Caquis) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 23,515 at the 2020 census, the parish ...
.
LA 47 was designated in the 1955 Louisiana Highway renumbering, replacing former State Route 61. North of I-10, the route turns west along the 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 west ...
and follows Hayne Boulevard from
Little Woods
''Little Woods'' is a 2018 crime drama film, written and directed by Nia DaCosta in her feature directorial debut. The film stars Tessa Thompson, Lily James, Luke Kirby, James Badge Dale and Lance Reddick.
''Little Woods'' had its world pr ...
to a point near the
New Orleans Lakefront Airport
Lakefront Airport is a public airport five miles northeast of downtown New Orleans, in Orleans Parish, Louisiana, United States. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a general aviation ''reliever ...
. This portion of the route is an unsigned extension that came under state maintenance during the late 1970s.
Route description
St. Bernard Parish
From the south, LA 47 begins atop 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 f ...
levee in
Chalmette
Chalmette ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in, and the parish seat of, St. Bernard Parish in southeastern Louisiana, United States. The 2010 census reported that Chalmette had 16,751 people; 2011 population was listed as 17,119; however, th ...
, the
seat
A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense.
Types of seat
The following are examples of different kinds of seat:
* Armchair (furniture), ...
of St. Bernard Parish. It continues the route of a local road that travels northward from the Chalmette–Lower Algiers Ferry landing. LA 47 heads north on Paris Road as an undivided two-lane highway and passes through an area dominated by petrochemical refineries. After passing the parish jail, LA 47 intersects LA 46 (St. Bernard Highway), connecting with
New Orleans
New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...
to the west and
Poydras
Poydras is a census-designated place (CDP) in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,886 at the 2000 census and 2,536 in 2020. It is part of the New Orleans– Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area. ...
to the southeast. Just over to the west on LA 46 is the historic Chalmette Battlefield and National Cemetery.
Proceeding north from LA 46, Paris Road widens to four lanes with a center turning lane as the surroundings become largely residential. After eight blocks, LA 47 intersects LA 39 ( Judge Perez Drive), a divided highway that parallels LA 46 through St. Bernard Parish. Heading toward the back of town, LA 47 passes the Park Plaza Shopping Center (the location of the local post office) as well as
Nunez Community College
Nunez Community College (NCC) is a public community college in Chalmette, Louisiana. Its full name is Elaine P. Nunez Community College; it was named for the deceased wife of former Louisiana State Senate President Samuel B. Nunez.
Its service ...
. Upon exiting Chalmette, the center lane gives way to a median, and the highway continues into the marshland atop a narrow strip of dry land lined with small marine-related industries.
New Orleans East
About later, LA 47 crosses a level bridge over Bayou Bienvenue into
New Orleans
New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...
, which are co-extensive. The highway then crosses a high-level bridge over the much wider
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 ...
, an industrial shipping channel. Returning to grade, LA 47 becomes a
controlled-access highway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...
that also serves as the entire route of I-510. This concurrency lasts for and contains four closely spaced interchanges. The first is exit 2C, a stingray-shaped
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 ...
that connects with Old Gentilly Road via Almonaster Boulevard and serves the nearby
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
Michoud Assembly Facility
The Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) is an manufacturing complex owned by NASA in New Orleans East, a district within New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States. Organizationally it is part of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and is current ...
. This is followed by exit 2A–B to US 90 (Chef Menteur Highway), a major route through
New Orleans East
New Orleans East is the eastern section of New Orleans, the newest section of the city. It is bounded by the Industrial Canal, the Intracoastal Waterway and Lake Pontchartrain. Developed extensively from the 1950s onward, its numerous residential ...
. Continuing north, a more traditional diamond interchange at exit 1B serves Lake Forest Boulevard, and soon afterward, the abandoned
Six Flags New Orleans
Six Flags New Orleans is an abandoned theme park located near the intersection of Interstate 10 and Interstate 510 in New Orleans. It first opened as Jazzland in 2000, and a leasing agreement was established with Six Flags in 2002 following the ...
theme park appears on the east side of the highway.
The fourth and final interchange is exit 1A, a partial cloverleaf with
flyover ramp
An overpass (called an overbridge or flyover in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries) is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and ''underpass'' together form ...
s that connects to I-10. New Orleans' major east–west route, I-10 connects with the Central Business District to the southwest and the city of Slidell to the northeast. Having intersected its parent route, I-510 ends, and LA 47 continues ahead as a divided four-lane highway without control of access. The highway reaches the south 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 west ...
in an area known as
Little Woods
''Little Woods'' is a 2018 crime drama film, written and directed by Nia DaCosta in her feature directorial debut. The film stars Tessa Thompson, Lily James, Luke Kirby, James Badge Dale and Lance Reddick.
''Little Woods'' had its world pr ...
, located at the easternmost extent of urban development along the lake shore. Here, LA 47 turns southwest onto Hayne Boulevard, an undivided four-lane thoroughfare. For the next , LA 47 travels through residential New Orleans East while closely following the lake levee, which is topped by a concrete floodwall. Several divided neighborhood thoroughfares, such as Bullard Avenue, Read Boulevard, and Crowder Boulevard, lead back to interchanges with I-10. Just west of Crowder Boulevard, a ramp provides access to the
New Orleans Lakefront Airport
Lakefront Airport is a public airport five miles northeast of downtown New Orleans, in Orleans Parish, Louisiana, United States. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a general aviation ''reliever ...
Industrial Canal
The Industrial Canal is a 5.5 mile (9 km) waterway in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The waterway's proper name, as used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and on NOAA nautical charts, is Inner Harbor Navigation Canal ( IHNC). ...
. LA 47 continues along Hayne Boulevard for another to an intersection with Downman Road, which parallels the industrial corridor located along the east side of the canal.
Route classification and data
LA 47 is classified by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (La DOTD) as an urban principal arterial south of I-510 and an urban interstate over the I-510 concurrency. The remainder of the route is generally classified as an urban minor arterial. Daily traffic volume in 2013 peaked at 28,500 vehicles between Chalmette and the I-510 concurrency. North of I-10, figures dropped off sharply to a low of 5,600 along much of the Hayne Boulevard segment. The posted speed limit is generally in developed areas, increased to in rural areas and over the freeway portion of the route.
History
Pre-1955 route numbering
In the original Louisiana Highway system in use between 1921 and 1955, the majority of LA 47 was designated as State Route 61. It was created in 1921 by an act of the state legislature as one of the original 98 state highway routes.
The southernmost portion of the route followed the existing Paris Road, originally platted in the early 19th Century as the main street of
Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...
, an ambitious town plan that evolved into the present community of Chalmette. North of town, Route 61 was projected to traverse the swamps until reaching the natural ridge along Bayou Sauvage that supported the roadbed of the Old Spanish Trail, designated as Route 2. Now known as Old Gentilly Road, this highway became the original alignment of US 90 upon its designation in 1926.
Route 61 was constructed through the swamps north of Chalmette around the end of the 1920s. The route originally contained a
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 ...
across Bayou Bienvenue on the St. Bernard–Orleans parish line, the remains of which can still be seen immediately to the west of the present fixed span. In 1936, the entire length of Route 61 was improved from a gravel road to a paved road. Shortly afterward, a gravel extension was completed north to Hayne Boulevard, giving St. Bernard Parish residents direct access to Little Woods, an area on Lake Pontchartrain lined with recreational camps built over the water. This road did not become part of the state highway system at this time. However, in 1942, the Route 61 designation was extended slightly to connect with the newly constructed relocation of US 90 known as Chef Menteur Highway. Around the middle of the decade, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway was dug through the area, necessitating a second bridge crossing on Route 61.
Post-1955 route history
LA 47 was created in 1955 as a direct renumbering of former Route 61.
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.
Since the renumbering, LA 47 has been extensively improved and reconstructed. Construction began in the early 1960s on I-10 running parallel to US 90 through New Orleans East. LA 47 was again extended north along Paris Road about to a planned connection with the future interstate highway. The resulting interchange was partially opened in April 1967 when I-10 was completed eastward from Paris Road to the Twin Span Bridge across Lake Pontchartrain. That same year, a new high-level fixed span bridge on LA 47 across the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway was opened to traffic. Designed by the Army Corps of Engineers, the
cantilever truss
A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using structures that project horizontally into space, supported on only one end (called cantilevers). For small footbridges, the cantilevers may be simple beams; however, large cantilever bridges designe ...
bridge with tied arch-suspended span contained four vehicular lanes and allowed all marine traffic to pass underneath unimpeded. Officially called the Paris Road Bridge, its original green painted surface led to its being called the "Green Bridge" by St. Bernard Parish residents. The I-10/LA 47 interchange was fully opened to traffic in October 1972 when the interstate was completed westward to Morrison Road near the
Industrial Canal
The Industrial Canal is a 5.5 mile (9 km) waterway in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The waterway's proper name, as used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and on NOAA nautical charts, is Inner Harbor Navigation Canal ( IHNC). ...
bridge.
Interstate 510
By the early 1970s, a project was underway to reconstruct LA 47 as a modern four-lane highway connecting Chalmette with the new Gulf Intracoastal Waterway bridge. This involved the construction of a new roadway embankment through the swamp running parallel to the existing two-lane highway as well as a new fixed span bridge across Bayou Bienvenue. The entire corridor was intended to become part of I-410, a planned southern loop around New Orleans designated in 1969 that would connect with I-10 on either side of the city. Construction was not completed until around 1980, three years after the I-410 loop was cancelled. However, the portion north of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway bridge was retained as I-510, a short spur of I-10. Around this same time, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development took over the northern portion of Paris Road and the entirety of Hayne Boulevard west to Morrison Road into the state highway system as an extension of LA 47.
The portion of LA 47 designated as I-510 was improved as an interstate-grade freeway beginning in 1985. While it required only of construction, the project was many years behind schedule mainly due to environmental-related concerns. A four-lane detour was paved on the west side of the right-of-way to serve through traffic during construction and is still in use today as a frontage road. The completed interstate spur was officially dedicated and opened to traffic by Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards on November 13, 1992 after seven years of construction and an expenditure of $82 million. It included new interchanges at Almonaster Boulevard (connecting to Old Gentilly Road), US 90 (Chef Menteur Highway), and Lake Forest Boulevard. Additionally, the US 90 interchange served as a grade separation for the parallel
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States.
CN i ...
(CN) line. The reconstructed route facilitated the movement of traffic between Chalmette and New Orleans East and provided a vastly improved outlet for St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parish residents during hurricane evacuations.
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, the entire portion of LA 47 from I-10 to the intersection of Hayne Boulevard and Downman Road is to be transferred back to the city of New Orleans as it does not meet a significant interurban travel function.
Major intersections
See also
*
Interstate 510
Interstate 510 (I-510) is a short spur route of I-10 within eastern New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It runs south from I-10, intersects with U.S. Route 90, and ends at the Almonaster Boulevard interchange, near the NASA Mich ...