Airline Highway

Airline Highway
Route of the Airline Highway highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by Louisiana DOTD
Length115.6 mi[1] (186.0 km)
Existed1925 (planned);
1927 (first section opened);
1953 (last section opened)–present
Component
highways
US 61 from New Orleans to Baton Rouge
US 190 from Baton Rouge to near Krotz Springs
Major junctions
Southeast end US 61 in New Orleans
Major intersections
Northwest end US 190 east of Krotz Springs
Location
CountryUnited States
StateLouisiana
ParishesOrleans, Jefferson, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, St. James, Ascension, East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Pointe Coupee
Highway system
  • Louisiana State Highway System

Airline Highway is a divided highway in the U.S. state of Louisiana, built in stages between 1925 and 1953 to bypass the older Jefferson Highway. It runs 115.6 miles (186.0 km),[1] carrying U.S. Highway 61 from New Orleans northwest to Baton Rouge and U.S. Highway 190 from Baton Rouge west over the Mississippi River on the Huey P. Long Bridge. US 190 continues west towards Opelousas on an extension built at roughly the same time.

The highway was named "Airline" because it runs relatively straight on a new alignment, rather than alongside the winding Mississippi River. (Compare with the similar term air-line railroad.) The name later became even more fitting, as both Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport were built along the highway. Airline Highway also runs close to the site of the old Baton Rouge airfield (near the intersection of Airline and Florida Boulevard, now a park and government office complex), which brings it within blocks of the similarly named Airport Avenue and Airway Drive.

  1. ^ a b "Overview Map of Airline Highway" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved July 14, 2013.