Louisiana Highway 88 (LA 88) 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

Iberia Parish, Louisiana Iberia Parish (french: Paroisse de l'Ibérie, es, Parroquia de Iberia) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 69,929; the parish seat is New Iberia. The parish was formed in 1868 during ...

. It runs in an east–west direction from LA 89 at Lozes to LA 182 at

Burke Burke is an Anglo-Norman Irish surname, deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh (–1206) had the surname ''de Burgh'' which was gaelicised ...

. The route connects

U.S. Highway 90 U.S. Route 90 or U.S. Highway 90 (US 90) is an east–west major United States highway in the Southern United States. Despite the "0" in its route number, US 90 never was a full coast-to-coast route. With the exception of a short-lived ...

(US 90) and LA 182, its de facto business route, between

Lafayette Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to: People * Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette * House of La Fayette, a French noble family ** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757� ...

and

New Iberia New Iberia (french: La Nouvelle-Ibérie; es, Nueva Iberia) is the largest city in and parish seat of Iberia Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The city of New Iberia is located approximately southeast of Lafayette, and forms part of the Lafa ...

. LA 88 also connects US 90 to Delcambre, a town east of

Abbeville Abbeville (, vls, Abbekerke, pcd, Advile) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the chef-lieu of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of ...

, via LA 89. It runs through a mixture of older rural and newer suburban development.

Route description

From the west, LA 88 begins at an intersection with LA 89 located at a point in northwestern

Iberia Parish Iberia Parish (french: Paroisse de l'Ibérie, es, Parroquia de Iberia) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 69,929; the parish seat is New Iberia. The parish was formed in 1868 during ...

known as Lozes. LA 89, heading north from Delcambre, makes a sharp turn from Coteau Road west onto Youngsville Road to head toward the small city of Youngsville. LA 88 proceeds straight ahead on Coteau Road for then curves to the east. After , LA 88 passes through an interchange with US 90, the future route of

I-49 Interstate 49 (I-49) is a north–south Interstate Highway that exists in multiple segments: the original portion entirely within the state of Louisiana with an additional signed portion extending from Interstate 220 (Louisiana), I-220 in S ...

, which connects to

on the northwest and Morgan City on the southeast. East of US 90, LA 88 makes a jog to the south and back to the northeast. later, the route crosses 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 Railroad 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 Paci ...

line. It ends immediately afterward at an intersection with LA 182 ( West Old Spanish Trail) at a point known as

, northwest of

. LA 182 parallels the route of US 90 to Lafayette and Morgan City. The route is classified by the

Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) is a state government organization in the United States, in charge of maintaining public transportation, roadways, bridges, canals, select levees, floodplain management, port facili ...

(La DOTD) as an urban collector from the western terminus to Parish Road 509 and a rural major collector to the eastern terminus. The entire route has an average daily traffic volume of 5,800 vehicles, and the posted speed limit is . LA 88 is an undivided two-lane highway for the majority of its route, widening briefly to a divided four-lane highway through the interchange with US 90.

History

In the original Louisiana Highway system in use between 1921 and 1955, the modern LA 88 made up the northern portion of State Route 448. Route 448 followed the present route of LA 89 from Delcambre north to Lozes, then LA 88 from there to Burke. LA 88 was created with the

1955 Louisiana Highway renumbering In 1955, Louisiana passed a law that undertook a comprehensive revision to the state highway classification and numbering system. The new system designated roads by importance to travel patterns and rectified the previous numbering system under n ...

, and its route has remained the same to the present day. However, the eastern terminus in Burke was originally a junction with US 90. After the relocation of US 90 through the area around 1969, the former alignment became LA 182, which now serves as the eastern terminus of LA 88.

Future

La DOTD is currently involved 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 route of LA 88 is proposed for deletion as it does not meet a significant interurban travel function.

Major intersections

References

External links