Airline Highway

Airline Highway
Route of the Airline Highway highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by Louisiana DOTD
Length	115.6 mi[1] (186.0 km)
Existed	1925 (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	I-10 in New Orleans I-310 in St. Rose US 51 in LaPlace I-10 southeast of Sorrento I-12 / US 190 / I-110 / US 61 in Baton Rouge
Northwest end	US 190 east of Krotz Springs
Location
Country	United States
State	Louisiana
Parishes	Orleans, Jefferson, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, St. James, Ascension, East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Pointe Coupee
Highway system
United States Numbered Highway System List Special Divided Louisiana State Highway System Interstate US State Scenic

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.