U.S. Route 90 Business (New Orleans, Louisiana)

U.S. Highway 90 Business (US 90 Bus.) is a business route of U.S. Highway 90 located in and near New Orleans, Louisiana. It runs in a general east–west direction from US 90 in Avondale to a junction with Interstate 10 (I-10) and US 90 in the New Orleans Central Business District.

Unlike a typical business route, US 90 Bus. is built to a higher standard than the segment of US 90 that it parallels. More than half of the route is an elevated freeway with frontage roads while mainline US 90 is a divided six-lane surface highway. It is also the only business route of a U.S. Highway in Louisiana that is not derived from a former alignment of its parent route. US 90 Bus. was newly constructed between 1954 and 1960 while the parallel section of US 90 has remained largely unchanged since 1936.

US 90 Bus. initially heads eastward along the Westbank Expressway, serving a number of suburban communities in Jefferson Parish located on the west bank of the Mississippi River. These include Westwego, Marrero, Harvey, and Gretna, the parish seat. After transitioning from a surface route to an elevated freeway in Marrero, US 90 Bus. traverses a high-level bridge over the Harvey Canal, a link in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, while the frontage roads pass through the Harvey Tunnel. Shortly after entering an area of New Orleans known as Algiers, US 90 Bus. curves due west onto the Crescent City Connection, a twin-span cantilever bridge across the Mississippi River. The highway continues alongside the downtown area as part of the elevated Pontchartrain Expressway to a complex interchange with I-10 and mainline US 90 adjacent to the Superdome.

The entirety of US 90 Bus. is intended to become part of I-49 once that highway is extended along the present US 90 corridor from Lafayette to New Orleans. In the meantime, the route carries the designation of Future I-49, as approved by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in 1999. While the Federal Highway Administration approved the existing freeway portion of US 90 Bus. to be signed as Interstate 910 in the interim, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development did not follow through with an application to the AASHTO's U.S. Route Numbering Committee, and the designation remains unused.

Route description

Westwego to Harvey Canal

From the west, US 90 Bus. begins at a modified trumpet interchange with US 90 in a sparsely developed area of Jefferson Parish surrounded by the suburban city of Westwego, Bayou Segnette State Park, and an industrial area formerly known as Avondale Shipyard. Mainline US 90 connects with Boutte to the west and the Huey P. Long Bridge across the Mississippi River to the east (geographically north). Due to the proximity of the BNSF/Union Pacific Railroad overpass on eastbound US 90, the ramp from westbound US 90 Bus. travels in an indirect fashion and intersects an eastbound ramp at grade at a four-way stop. As a result, a significant amount of local traffic circumvents this movement by turning onto Nine Mile Point Road toward a signalized intersection with US 90 that features a protected no-stop turn lane.

US 90 Bus. heads southeast along the Westbank Expressway as a divided four-lane highway and intersects Segnette Boulevard, the entrance to the Alario Center and Bayou Segnette State Park. Soon afterward, US 90 Bus. widens to six lanes, and the median width increases from to . Upon entering the city of Westwego, US 90 Bus. becomes a developed commercial corridor, and an intersection with LA 18 Spur (Louisiana Street) provides a route for truck traffic to the industrial facilities along the riverfront. The highway crosses from Westwego into the unincorporated community of Marrero immediately past Victory Drive and curves due east, maintaining a parallel trajectory to the Mississippi River. At Carmadelle Street, several blocks past a signalized intersection with Westwood Drive, a ramp leads through traffic onto an elevated six-lane freeway, which begins in the median. The ground-level portion of the Westbank Expressway continues straight ahead as frontage roads serving local businesses and maintains a six-lane capacity.

After a short distance, the first in a series of tight diamond interchanges, exit 4A, connects with Ames Boulevard. As it is located near the west end of the freeway, the interchange consists only of an eastbound entrance and westbound exit with the remaining movements accessed from the frontage roads. The following exit (4B) connects with LA 45 (Barataria Boulevard) and leads to Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve as well as several communities situated alongside Bayou Barataria. This exit also serves the nearby West Jefferson Medical Center. US 90 Bus. proceeds through the neighboring unincorporated community of Harvey, which is bisected by the Harvey Canal, a link in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. An industrial corridor flanks the canal and stretches from the Mississippi River southward into Plaquemines Parish near Belle Chasse. A half-diamond interchange at exit 5 (MacArthur Avenue) serves the industrial area on the west bank of the canal. The highway elevates to a height of to cross the canal while the frontage roads pass underneath it via the Harvey Tunnel. Direct access to the facilities on the east side of the canal, situated along LA 3017 (Peters Road), is limited to a westbound exit ramp.

Harvey Canal to Mississippi River

East of the Harvey Canal, US 90 Bus. heads northwest, returning to its prior elevation and connecting to Manhattan Boulevard via exit 6. It then enters the city of Gretna, the seat of Jefferson Parish government. Two interchanges serve Gretna: exit 7 to LA 18/ LA 23 (Lafayette Street) and exit 8 to Stumpf Boulevard. Between these two exits, the expressway frontage roads run concurrent with LA 23, which continues northwest onto Stumpf Boulevard. While passing alongside the Oakwood Center shopping mall, US 90 Bus. enters into its final interchange on the west bank: exit 9 to Terry Parkway and General de Gaulle Drive. These are parallel divided thoroughfares, the former serving the mall and adjacent neighborhood of Terrytown. The first portion of the exit is a tight half-diamond interchange consisting of an eastbound exit and westbound entrance that utilize the frontage roads to connect with both thoroughfares.

Immediately after crossing Terry Parkway, US 90 Bus. enters Orleans Parish

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