U.S. Route 11 in Louisiana

This article is about the section of U.S. Route 11 in Louisiana. For the entire route, see U.S. Route 11.
U.S. Highway 11 marker
U.S. Highway 11
Map
US 11 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by Louisiana DOTD
Length31.153 mi[1] (50.136 km)
Existed1939–present
Major junctions
South end US 90 in New Orleans
Major intersections
North end I-59 / US 11 at Mississippi state line south of Nicholson
Location
CountryUnited States
StateLouisiana
ParishesOrleans, St. Tammany
Highway system
  • Louisiana State Highway System
← LA 10→ I-12

U.S. Highway 11 (US 11) is a part of the United States Numbered Highway System that spans 1,645 miles (2,647 km)[a][2] from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Rouses Point, New York. Within the state of Louisiana, the highway travels 31 miles (50 km)[1] from the national southern terminus at US 90 in New Orleans to the Mississippi state line south of Picayune.

From New Orleans East, US 11 crosses Lake Pontchartrain on the nearly five-mile-long (8.0 km) Maestri Bridge. The route parallels Interstate 10 (I-10) into Slidell, serving as that city's major north–south arterial. After crossing I-12, US 11 parallels I-59 to the town of Pearl River, at which point the two highways proceed concurrently across the state line.

The portion of US 11 between Slidell and Pearl River was once part of the Old Spanish Trail, an early auto trail that largely became the route of US 90 when the U.S. Numbered Highway System was implemented in 1926. US 11 originally terminated in Mississippi just northwest of what is now the Stennis Space Center. In 1937, US 90 was relocated onto a new route bypassing Slidell and Pearl River, significantly reducing the distance between New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. US 11 was extended into Louisiana two years later over the former alignment of US 90, and the two routes were cosigned into Downtown New Orleans. This concurrency was discontinued in 1951 with US 11 being cut back to its current southern terminus at US 90 in New Orleans East.

Until the construction of the Interstate Highway System in the area during the late 1950s to mid-1960s, US 11 was one of two major routes eastward out of New Orleans, the other being US 90. Both still serve as important alternate routes to I-10 when hurricanes threaten the area, as was perhaps most evident when, in August 2005, Hurricane Katrina heavily damaged the nearby I-10 Twin Span Bridge over Lake Pontchartrain, rendering the crossing completely impassable for over six weeks.[3] (The Maestri Bridge on US 11, constructed in 1928, had sustained only minor damage.) North of Pearl River, US 11 does not serve a similar function, however, since it was moved onto I-59 in 1965 and no longer retains a separate crossing over the various branches of the Pearl River system.

  1. ^ a b "La DOTD GIS Data". Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. 2018. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
  2. ^ "U.S. Route Number Database". American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. December 2009. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  3. ^ Rioux, Paul (October 18, 2005). "Traffic Snarls Lost Some Ferocity - But Congestion Still Plagues Causeway". The Times-Picayune. New Orleans. p. 1.


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