Interstate 10 (I-10), is a major transcontinental Interstate Highway in the Southern United States that runs across the southern part of Louisiana for from Texas to Mississippi. It passes through Lake Charles, Lafayette, and Baton Rouge, dips south of Lake Pontchartrain to serve the New Orleans metropolitan area, then crosses Lake Pontchartrain and goes into Mississippi.
Route description
I-10 enters Louisiana at the state's southwestern corner from Orange, Texas, in a concurrency with US Route 90 (US 90), which leaves the freeway at the first exit. The two routes closely parallel each other through much of the state. The first community I-10 approaches in the state is Vinton. Between Sulphur and Lake Charles there is an interchange with I-210. I-10 crosses the Calcasieu River Bridge into Lake Charles, passing north of the center of town, before meeting the western end of I-210. Between Lake Charles and Lafayette, I-10 bypasses several small towns including Iowa, Welsh, Jennings, and Crowley. In Lafayette, I-10 meets the current southern terminus of I-49, leaving northwest out of the city and passing by the community of Breaux Bridge.
From Lafayette, the highway heads east-northeast toward Baton Rouge via the Atchafalaya Swamp Freeway, an bridge across the Atchafalaya River and its accompanying swamp. Between the two cities, I-10 parallels US 190, from Opelousas to Baton Rouge. This route has signs and is designated as an alternate I-10 bypass that runs from I-10/I-49 north to US 190 (exit 19B at Opelousas) then east across to Baton Rouge and back down to I-10 via I-110 south. Traffic can be diverted both ways along this route should there be the necessity to close I-10 across the Atchafalaya Swamp Freeway and is also used as a hurricane evacuation route.
In the capital of Baton Rouge, US 190 continues east alongside I-12 to Hammond and Slidell while I-10 turns southeastward and parallels US 61 (Airline Highway) to New Orleans. In the Crescent City, I-10 rejoins US 90 (and later US 11) as it heads toward Slidell. In Slidell, US 11 continues northeastward toward Hattiesburg, Mississippi, while I-10 and US 90 turn eastward toward coastal Mississippi.
Major bridges on I-10 in Louisiana include the Sabine River Bridge (c. 1952, replaced 2003), the Lake Charles I-10 Bridge (1952), the Atchafalaya Swamp Freeway (1973), the Horace Wilkinson Bridge over the Mississippi River (1968), the Bonnet Carré Spillway Bridge (c. 1972), the Industrial Canal Bridge (c. 1960), Frank Davis "Naturally N'Awlins" Memorial Bridge (1965, replaced 2010), and the Pearl River Bridge (c. 1970).
History
By the beginning of planning for the Interstate Highway System in 1939 (then called the Interregional Highway System), the Houston–New Orleans–Mobile corridor was part of the system. Preliminary plans took it along US 90 all the way through Louisiana, serving Lake Charles and Lafayette but not Baton Rouge. By c. 1943, it had been shifted to the north west of New Orleans, using the Louisiana Highway 12 (LA 12), US 190, and US 61 corridors, and serving Baton Rouge but not Lake Charles or Lafayette. The 1947 plan shifted it to roughly the current alignment, including the long stretch of new corridor across the Atchafalaya Swamp. The corridor was assigned the I-10 designation in mid-1957.
Prior to the gaining of federal funding for the Interstate System in the late 1950s, a toll road, the Acadian Thruway, had been proposed between Lafayette and a point near Gramercy on Airline Highway (US 61). This would have provided a shorter route than I-10, bypassing Baton Rouge to the south. The Gramercy Bridge was later built along its planned alignment, with LA 3125 connecting to Gramercy, but no road extends west from the bridge across the Atchafalaya Swamp to Lafayette.
I-12, serving as a bypass of New Orleans around the north side of Lake Pontchartrain, was not added until October 17, 1957. At the time, I-10 and I-59 split in eastern New Orleans, with I-59 following present I-10 and I-10 following the US 90 corridor into Mississippi, and so I-12 only ran to I-59 north of Slidell. By the mid-1960s, the routes had been realigned to their current configuration, with I-12 and I-59 both ending at I-10 near Slidell.
Construction of the Interstate Highway System in Louisiana began in 1957. Early I-10 contracts were done under the route designation LA 3027. Much of the early construction on the I-10 corridor was concentrated on relieving traffic problems in urban centers. Several such projects were already underway and were incorporated into the route of I-10 during construction, such as the Pontchartrain Expressway in New Orleans. In addition, the two major bridges on the route in Calcasieu Parish between the Texas state line and Lake Charles were built for US 90 in the early 1950s and retrofitted for I-10 traffic. Sections of I-10 through rural areas and/or those sections already served adequately by existing highways, such as Airline Highway (US 61) between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, were constructed later in the program. By the spring of 1975, the entire route of I-10 had been opened across Louisiana except for a problem section between Gonzales and Sorrento that was not completed for another three years.
Timeline
Segment Year openedSabine River Bridge (Texas-Louisiana state line) Existing US 90 bridge opened May 11, 1954Sabine River to VintonExisting US 90 opened May 11, 1954; upgraded to interstate standards and opened February 24, 1967Vinton to SulphurSeptember 21, 1965Sulphur to Westlake April 16, 1962Calcasieu River Bridge (Westlake-Lake Charles)Existing US 90 bridge, opened September 28, 1951Calcasieu River to US 171 (Lake Charles)April 3, 1963 US 171 (Lake Charles) to US 165 (Iowa)February 17, 1964US 165 (Iowa) to WelshDecember 9, 1964Welsh to Jennings Spring 1965Jennings to Crowley March 28, 1963Crowley to DusonDecember 19, 1966Duson to US 167 (Lafayette) October 30, 1968US 167 (Lafayette) to Grosse Tete (including Atchafalaya Basin Bridge) March 12, 1973Grosse Tete to LobdellMarch 28, 1974Lobdell to Port Allen November 7, 1970Baton Rouge Mississippi River Bridge (Port Allen-Baton Rouge)April 10, 1968Baton Rouge Mississippi River to Perkins RoadSeptember 18, 1964Baton Rouge Perkins Road to College DriveOctober 1965Baton Rouge: College Drive to Highland RoadMay 31, 1974Highland Road to GonzalesDecember 19, 1974Gonzales to SorrentoMay 5, 1978Sorrento to LaPlace April 16, 1975Laplace to Williams Boulevard (Kenner) (including Bonnet Carré Spillway Bridge)December 17, 1971Jefferson Parish: Williams Boulevard to Veterans Highway (Metairie) May 17, 1968Jefferson Parish: Veterans Memorial Boulevard to Causeway Boulevard (Metairie) December 1967Jefferson Parish: Causeway Boulevard Metairie to Pontchartrain Expressway (New Orleans) March 26, 1965New Orleans: Pontchartrain Expressway from Florida Avenue to Mound AvenueOctober 4, 1962New Orleans: Pontchartrain Expressway from Mound Avenue to Airline Highway (US 61) February 16, 1962New Orleans: Pontchartrain Expressway from Airline Highway (US 61) to Claiborne Avenue (US 90) February 19, 1960New Orleans: Claiborne Expressway from Pontchartrain Expressway to Tulane AvenueDecember 8, 1972New Orleans: Claiborne Expressway from Tulane Avenue to Orleans AvenueJune 16, 1969New Orleans: Claiborne Expressway from Orleans Avenue to St. Bernard AvenueMarch 14, 1968New Orleans: Claiborne Expressway from St. Bernard Avenue to Franklin AvenueFebruary 27, 1968New Orleans: Claiborne Expressway from Franklin Avenue to Industrial CanalApril 1966New Orleans: Industrial Canal BridgeDecember 21, 1965New Orleans: Industrial Canal to Morrison Road December 8, 1966New Orleans: Morrison Road to Paris RoadOctober 18, 1972New Orleans: Paris Road to US 11April 24, 1967US 11 (New Orleans) to I-12/I-59 (Slidell) (including Lake Pontchartrain Twin Span Bridge)December 21, 1965I-12/I-59 (Slidell) to East Pearl River February 16, 1971Pearl River Bridge (Louisiana-Mississippi state line) February 16, 1971
Reconstruction of the portion at the I-610 Split vicinity was undertaken in the late 1990s. Also in the late 1990s, further work was done on the expressway as two ramps were constructed, connecting West I-10 to West Business U.S. 90 and westbound Claiborne Avenue (West US 90), replacing an earlier, more dangerous ramp. The direct ramp from 90B East to I-10 East was completed by 1989.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the I-10 Twin Span Bridge, a portion of I-10 between New Orleans and Slidell, spanning the eastern end of Lake Pontchartrain, was severely damaged, causing a break in I-10 at that point. Unlike the Escambia Bay Bridge (east of Pensacola, Florida and damaged by Hurricane Ivan), which is a major artery, I-12 is available to bypass New Orleans. Taking I-12 to the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway allowed entry and exit to and from the Greater New Orleans area from the East. On October 14, 2005, at 3:00 pm, the eastbound span was reopened to two way traffic. On January 6, 2006, at 6:00 am, both lanes of the westbound span were reopened to traffic using temporary metal trusses and road panels to replace damaged sections. This restored all four lanes of the I-10 Twin Span for normal traffic with a speed limit for the westbound lanes and for the eastbound lanes. Oversized and overweight traffic was prohibited until a new permanent six-lane span replaced the two temporarily repaired spans. The eastbound span opened to traffic on July 9, 2009, and the westbound span opened on April 7, 2010, with the old bridge being permanently closed. The approaches to the westbound lanes were completed with a ribbon cutting ceremony on September 8, 2011, and the opening of all six lanes the next morning. The old Twin Span will be demolished in the near future. In 2014, the Louisiana State Legislature officially named the Twin Span as the Frank Davis "Naturally N'Awlins" Memorial Bridge.
A $68.9 million three-year construction project was completed between Causeway Boulevard and the 17th Street Canal in Metairie, Louisiana. It added new lanes in both directions and improve the exit and entrance ramps at Causeway and Bonnabel Boulevard.
In 2012, the state completed a widening project between Causeway and Clearview Parkway and between the I-10/I-610 split and Airline Highway (US 61). In 2015, the additional lanes were extended in Metairie, from Clearview Parkway west to Veterans Boulevard.
I-10 was widened to three lanes in each direction from the I-10/I-12 split to Highland Road (exit 166) from late 2008 to spring 2013.
On April 8, 2017, Louisiana DOTD broke ground on the reconstruction of of I-10 between I-49 (exit 103) and the Atchafalaya Basin. A center concrete barrier was constructed, the road was repaved, and an extra travel lane was constructed, making I-10 three lanes in each direction. Construction began May 2017, was completed in October 2021, and had a ribbon cutting ceremony on November 22, 2021.