Louisiana Highway 23 (LA 23) is a north-south state highway in Louisiana that serves Plaquemines and Jefferson Parishes. It spans 74.02 miles (119.12 km) in roughly a southeast/northwest direction. It is known locally as Belle Chasse Highway, Lafayette Street, the West Bank Expressway, and Franklin Avenue.
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Route description
LA 23 connects Gretna and Venice. Between Belle Chasse and Venice, the highway serves as the main road along the west bank of the Mississippi River. LA 23 runs through the small rural towns of Jesuit Bend, Naomi, Myrtle Grove, West Pointe A La Hache, Port Sulphur, Nairn, Empire, Buras, Triumph, and Bootheville. With the exception of the portion running through Port Sulphur, the entire highway is four lanes (although it is not controlled access). It is a critical hurricane evacuation route for thousands of inhabitants along the west bank of the Mississippi River.
History
At one time, LA 23 ran straight across the Westbank Expressway (U.S. Highway 90 Business), using Lafayette Street, 5th Street and Huey P. Long Avenue through downtown Gretna and crossing the Jackson Avenue-Gretna Ferry onto Jackson Avenue in New Orleans.[2] By 1986, it had been rerouted, running along the Westbank Expressway frontage roads to Stumpf Boulevard and turning north on Stumpf and Franklin Avenue to end at Burmaster Street (LA 428).[3] The former LA 23 to 4th Street in downtown Gretna became an extension of LA 18, while the three blocks beyond to the ferry (and Jackson Avenue in New Orleans) are now unnumbered.