Louisiana Highway 54

Louisiana Highway 54 (LA 54) is a state highway located in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana. It runs 2.34 miles (3.77 km) in a north–south direction from LA 44 to U.S. Highway 61 (US 61) in Garyville.

Louisiana Highway 54
Route information
Maintained by Louisiana DOTD
Length2.34 mi[1] (3.77 km)
Existed1955 renumbering–present
Major junctions
South end LA 44 in Garyville
North end US 61 in Garyville
Location
ParishesSt. John the Baptist
Highway system
  • Louisiana Highway System
← LA 53→ I-55
← SR 11201121→ SR 1122

The route connects the community of Garyville with US 61 between New Orleans and Baton Rouge and provides a truck route for the nearby industrial plants along the Mississippi River.

Route description

From the south, LA 54 begins at an intersection with LA 44, which runs alongside the east bank levee of the Mississippi River and is commonly known as River Road. It proceeds north, running between the Nalco chemical plant to the west and the residential center of Garyville to the east. Within its short route, LA 54 crosses two railroad lines at grade, the Canadian National Railway (CN) midway along its route and the Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS) near its northern terminus. LA 54 ends at an intersection with US 61 (Airline Highway), which parallels I-10 between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.[2][3][4]

Much of LA 54 passes through a wooded area on a wide right-of-way with some scattered businesses and access to a few residential subdivisions. It serves to connect Garyville to US 61 and provides a trucking corridor for the Nalco plant and other industrial facilities along the river. The route is classified as an urban collector by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (La DOTD) with an average daily traffic volume of 1,470 in 2013.[1] LA 54 is an undivided, two-lane highway for its entire length with a posted speed limit of 55 mph (90 km/h).[2]

History

Pre-1955 route numbering

State Route 1121
LocationGaryville
Length2.7 mi[5] (4.3 km)
Existed1930–1955

In the original Louisiana Highway system in use between 1921 and 1955, the modern LA 54 corridor was designated as State Route 1121.[5]

Route 1121. A certain road at Garyville starting from the Jefferson Highway, U. S. Route 61, thence proceeding towards the Y. & M. V. R. R.[,] crossing same, and continuing as far as the intersection of Park Street, thence over Park Street, back to the Y. & M. V. R. R. along Main Street, and thence along the Y. & M. V. R. R. to the above described road crossing; all located in the town of Hopeville, which road is commonly known as the Hopeville road.

— 1930 legislative route description[6]

Route 1121 was created in 1930 by an act of the state legislature.[6] It originally existed as a spur off of Route 1 serving Garyville, which was situated around a lumber mill. At the time, the main route between New Orleans and Baton Rouge was the Jefferson Highway, an auto trail which followed the modern River Road past Garyville. This had become part of Route 1 in 1921[6] and the original route of US 61 in 1926.[7][8] Route 1121 followed a parallel alignment to the modern LA 54, running through the center of Garyville to the north side of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley (now the Canadian National) railroad tracks. It then made a loop back across the tracks to an intersection with itself.[6]

Airline Highway, the relocation of US 61, opened through the area in July 1932.[9] Around this time, Route 1121 was extended north to intersect it, becoming a more linear route between the old and new highways.[10][11] The route remained in this form until the 1955 Louisiana Highway renumbering.[5]

Post-1955 route history

LA 54 was created in 1955 as a direct renumbering of State Route 1121.[12]

La 54—From a junction with La 44 at or near Garyville to a junction with La-US 61.

— 1955 legislative route description[12]

At this time, the route still ran through the center of Garyville. From an intersection with LA 44 and South Church Street, 0.8 miles (1.3 km) east of the present southern terminus, LA 54 proceeded north to Anthony F. Monica Street. It then made a jog onto North Church Street and continued to Museums Street immediately north of the Canadian National (formerly the Illinois Central) railroad crossing. Here it made a second jog onto Garyville Northern Street (also known as Old Highway 54), joining the current alignment 0.7 miles (1.1 km) south of US 61.[3][13]

In 1991, LA 54 was relocated onto its current route, a newly constructed highway just to the west of the original route. This removed truck traffic serving the nearby industrial plants from the largely residential area traversed by the old route, which was also narrow and contained several right-angle turns. Large trucks carrying chemicals would reportedly become stuck while navigating the route, creating obstructions to traffic and potential safety hazards.[14]

Future

La DOTD is currently engaged in a program that aims to transfer about 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of state-owned roadways to local governments over the next several years.[15] Under this plan of "right-sizing" the state highway system, the entire route of LA 54 is proposed for deletion as it does not meet a significant interurban travel function.[16]

Major intersections

The entire highway is in Garyville, St. John the Baptist Parish.

mi[2]kmDestinationsNotes
0.00.0 LA 44 – Garyville, Mt. AirySouthern terminus
2.33.7 US 61 (Airline Highway) – New Orleans, Baton RougeNorthern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also
  •  United States portal
  •  U.S. Roads portal

References
  1. "La DOTD GIS". Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. 2013. Archived from the original on October 16, 2013. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
  2. Google (July 17, 2013). "Overview Map of LA 54" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  3. Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, Office of Multimodal Planning (February 2012). St. John the Baptist Parish (PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Baton Rouge: Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  4. Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, Office of Multimodal Planning (February 2012). District 62: Official Control Section Map, Construction and Maintenance (PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Baton Rouge: Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  5. Louisiana Department of Highways, Traffic and Planning Section (1952). St. John the Baptist Parish (Map) (January 1, 1955 ed.). Scale not given. Baton Rouge: Louisiana Department of Highways.
  6. "Act No. 15, House Bill No. 6". State-Times. Baton Rouge. October 13, 1930. pp. 1B–10B.
  7. "Ten U. S. Highways, totaling some 1,800 miles pass thru Louisiana". Morning Advocate. Baton Rouge. December 29, 1926. p. 11.
  8. Clason Map Company (1927). Mileage Map of the Best Roads of Louisiana (Map). Clason Map Company.
  9. "Airline Highway section opening slated Thursday". Times-Picayune. New Orleans. July 3, 1932.
  10. Louisiana Highway Commission, Photo-Map Department (December 1929). St. John the Baptist Parish (Map) (c. June 1931 ed.). Scale not given. Baton Rouge: Louisiana Highway Commission.
  11. Louisiana Highway Commission, State Wide Highway Planning Survey (1937). St. John the Baptist Parish (Map). Scale not given. Baton Rouge: Louisiana Highway Commission.
  12. "Act No. 40, House Bill No. 311". State-Times. Baton Rouge. June 18, 1955. p. 3B.
  13. Louisiana Department of Highways, Traffic and Planning Section (1952). St. John the Baptist Parish (Map) (January 1, 1958 ed.). Scale not given. Baton Rouge: Louisiana Department of Highways.
  14. Warren, Bob (July 6, 1991). "St. John road proves costly". Times-Picayune. New Orleans. p. B1.
  15. "Right-Sizing the State Highway System" (PDF). Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. April 2013. p. 3. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
  16. Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, Office of Multimodal Planning (March 2, 2017). Right-Size the State Highway System: St. John the Baptist Parish (PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Baton Rouge: Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. Retrieved July 5, 2017.

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