Louisiana Highway 27
Louisiana Highway 27 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Route of LA 27 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by Louisiana DOTD | ||||
| Length | 132.424 mi[1] (213.116 km) | |||
| Existed | 1955 renumbering–present | |||
| Tourist routes | ||||
| Major junctions | ||||
| Southeast end |  LA 14 in Holmwood | |||
| Northwest end |   US 171 / US 190 in DeRidder | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Louisiana | |||
| Parishes | Calcasieu, Cameron, Beauregard | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
.svg)
Louisiana Highway 27 (LA 27) is a state highway located in southwestern Louisiana. It runs 132.42 miles (213.11 km) in a general north–south direction from LA 14 in Holmwood to the junction of U.S. Highways 171 and 190 in DeRidder.
The route travels in a mirror-image of the letter "J" as it loops through the wetlands surrounding Calcasieu Lake and passes through Cameron, a small community situated on the Gulf of Mexico. It then extends northward through Sulphur en route to its terminus in DeRidder.
LA 27 essentially functions as two north–south roadways connecting the sparsely populated Cameron Parish to the Lake Charles metropolitan area and is signed accordingly. The north–south directional banners are reversed at the Cameron Ferry, a toll ferry the crosses the Calcasieu Ship Channel.
Route description[edit]
LA 27 begins at a junction with LA 14 in Holmwood, a point in Calcasieu Parish. It heads due south and, after 11 miles (18 km), provides access to the 9,621-acre (38.93 km2) Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge.[2] Reaching a cross-roads at Creole, LA 27 turns west concurrent with LA 82, the only other major highway through Cameron Parish.[3][4]
LA 27 and LA 82 parallel the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico into Cameron, the parish seat. Here, the route crosses the deep-water Calcasieu Ship Channel by way of a toll ferry. Continuing westward to Holly Beach, LA 27 turns northward away from LA 82 and meanders along the west side of Calcasieu Lake through Hackberry. Re-entering Calcasieu Parish, LA 27 overlaps LA 108 through unincorporated Carlyss, a residential area near the industrial section south of Sulphur. At a four-way intersection, LA 1256 continues straight ahead across I-10 and into Downtown Sulphur. LA 27 zigzags onto the parallel Beglis Parkway through a neighboring interchange with I-10, passing just east of the center of town.[3][4]
Continuing northward, LA 27 passes through the small city of DeQuincy and intersects LA 12. LA 27 proceeds north into Beauregard Parish through Oretta and Singer before reaching its final destination of DeRidder. In the center of town, LA 27 terminates at a one-way pair that is shared by US 171 and US 190. From this junction, connections are made to such cities as Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, and Shreveport, as well as Fort Johnson in Leesville.[3][4]
Byway and memorial designations[edit]
The entirety of LA 27 from Holmwood to Sulphur serves as a major portion of the Creole Nature Trail, a National Scenic Byway and All-American Road.[5]
In 2003, the portion of LA 27 from Sulphur to DeQuincy was designated as the Horace Lynn Jones Memorial Highway by the state legislature.[6]
History[edit]
In the original Louisiana Highway system in use between 1921 and 1955, LA 27 served as a portion of State Route 42 and the entirety of State Route 104.[7] Both were designated by the state legislature during the 1920s.[8] In this system, the two highways running northward from Cameron on either side of Calcasieu Lake had different numbers. The westerly route from Cameron through Sulphur to DeRidder was Route 104, while the easterly route through Creole toward Lake Charles was the southern leg of Route 42, a much longer route that was co-signed with US 171 as far as Mansfield.
When the Louisiana Department of Highways renumbered the state highway system in 1955, lengthy concurrencies between U.S. and state routes were eliminated. Route 104 became LA 27, and the independent portion of former Route 42 southeast of Lake Charles was largely included in that designation, connected via a concurrency with LA 82 through Cameron.[9]
Class "A": La 27—From the east bank of Calcasieu Pass at or near Cameron through or near Hackberry, Sulphur and DeQuincy to a junction with La-US 190 at or near DeRidder. Class "B": La 27—From a junction with La 14 at or near Holmwood through or near Creole to the east bank of Calcasieu Pass at or near Cameron. Class "C": La 27—From a junction with La 14 at or near Chalkley through or near Chloe and Iowa to a junction with La 101 at or near Lacasine[sic].
— 1955 legislative route description[9]
As its official route description indicates, north of Holmwood, LA 27 also originally included a string of minor roads running north to Chloe, then east along what is now the I-10 service road through Iowa to LA 101 at Lacassine.[10][11] By the 1970s, this mileage was largely eliminated.[12] The only other realignment in LA 27 shifted the route onto a streamlined path through Sulphur in 1993. The original route initially became LA 27 Bus. but has since been renumbered to LA 1256 and partially eliminated from the state highway system.
Major intersections[edit]
Note: The route is entirely signed north–south. The directional banners are reversed at the Cameron Ferry.
| Parish | Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calcasieu | Holmwood | 0.000 | 0.000 | LA 14 – Lake Charles, Lake Arthur | Southeastern terminus |
| | 4.026 | 6.479 |   LA 397 north | Southern terminus of LA 397 | |
| Cameron | Hacketts Corner | 8.360 | 13.454 |   LA 384 west – Sweet Lake, Grand Lake | Northern end of LA 384 concurrency |
| 8.855 | 14.251 |  LA 384 east | Southern end of LA 384 concurrency | ||
| Gibbstown | 13.311– 14.135 | 21.422– 22.748 | Conway LeBleu Memorial Bridge over Gulf Intracoastal Waterway | ||
| Creole | 22.631 | 36.421 |  LA 82 east – Oak Grove, Abbeville LA 1143 east (East Creole Highway) | Eastern end of LA 82 concurrency; western terminus of LA 1143 | |
| Cameron | 35.125 | 56.528 |   LA 1142 south (Beach Road) | Northern terminus of LA 1142 | |
| 36.916 | 59.411 |  LA 1141 | Northern terminus of LA 1141 (not signed) | ||
| 37.996 | 61.149 | Cameron Ferry across Calcasieu Ship Channel (tolled); 0.302-mile (0.486 km) ferry route not counted in official mileage | |||
| Holly Beach | 46.925– 46.979 | 75.518– 75.605 | LA 82 west (Gulf Beach Highway) – Johnson Bayou, Port Arthur | Western end of LA 82 concurrency | |
| Hackberry | 64.962 | 104.546 |  LA 390 (West Main Street) | Eastern terminus of LA 390 | |
| 67.288– 67.364 | 108.290– 108.412 | Bridge over Black Lake Bayou | |||
| Calcasieu | | 71.406– 71.966 | 114.917– 115.818 | Ellender Bridge over Gulf Intracoastal Waterway | |
| | 73.835– 74.115 | 118.826– 119.277 | Bridge over Choupique Bayou | ||
| Carlyss | 77.207 | 124.253 |   LA 108 west – Southland Field LA 1133 north | Southern end of LA 108 concurrency; southern terminus of LA 1133 | |
| 80.396 | 129.385 |    LA 1256 north (Old Highway 27) to I-10 – Sulphur | Southern terminus of LA 1256 | ||
| 81.443– 81.453 | 131.070– 131.086 | LA 108 east | Northern end of LA 108 concurrency | ||
| Sulphur | 83.478– 83.853 | 134.345– 134.948 | I-10 – Lake Charles, Beaumont | Exit 21 on I-10 | |
| 85.115 | 136.979 |  US 90 (East Napoleon Street) – Westlake, Edgerly | |||
| | 88.588 | 142.569 |  LA 379 (Houston River Road) – Westlake, Edgerly | Western terminus of LA 379 | |
| DeQuincy | 101.613 | 163.530 |  LA 12 east (East Fourth Street) – Ragley | Southern end of LA 12 concurrency | |
| 101.801 | 163.833 | LA 12 west (East Fourth Street) – Starks | Northern end of LA 12 concurrency | ||
| Beauregard | Juanita | 113.684 | 182.957 |  LA 109 south – Fields | Northern terminus of LA 109 |
| Singer | 116.230 | 187.054 |  LA 110 east – Longville | Southern end of LA 110 concurrency | |
| 116.355 | 187.255 | LA 110 west – Merryville | Northern end of LA 110 concurrency | ||
| DeRidder | 132.424 | 213.116 | US 171 south / US 190 (West First Street, Shirley Street) – Merryville, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge US 171 north (North Pine Street) – Fort Johnson, Shreveport | Northwestern terminus; one-way pair; to Beauregard Regional Airport | |
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
| |||||
Business route[edit]
Louisiana Highway 27 Business | |
|---|---|
| Location | Sulphur |
| Length | 4.7 mi[13] (7.6 km) |
| Existed | 1993–2003 |
Louisiana Highway 27 Business (LA 27 Bus.) ran 4.7 miles (7.6 km) in a north–south direction from the junction of LA 27 and LA 108 in Carlyss to the junction of US 90 and LA 27 in Sulphur.[13] The route followed the original alignment of LA 27 through Sulphur. It was renumbered as LA 1256 in 2003, and since then, has been partially returned to local control.
The entire highway is in Calcasieu Parish.
| Location | mi[13] | km | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carlyss | 0.0 | 0.0 |  LA 27 / LA 108 – Cameron | Southern terminus | |
| Sulphur | 2.1– 2.3 | 3.4– 3.7 | I-10 – Lake Charles, Beaumont | Exit 20 on I-10 | |
| 3.7 | 6.0 | US 90 west (Napoleon Street) | Southern end of US 90 concurrency | ||
| 4.7 | 7.6 | US 90 east (East Napoleon Street) LA 27 (Maple Street, Lewis Street) – DeQuincy, Cameron | Northern terminus; northern end of US 90 concurrency | ||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
| |||||
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, Highway Inventory Unit (2016). "LRS Conversion Tool". Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
- ^ "Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Refuge". fws.gov. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
- ^ a b c Google (February 26, 2018). "Overview Map of LA 27" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
- ^ a b c Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, Office of Multimodal Planning (July 2012). District 07: Official Control Section Map, Construction and Maintenance (PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Baton Rouge: Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
- ^ "Creole Nature Trail All-American Road". Louisiana Scenic Byways. 2017. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
- ^ Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, Office of Multimodal Planning (December 2015). Louisiana Memorial Highways (PDF) (Map). Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
- ^ Louisiana Department of Highways (July 1, 1955). Louisiana Highways: Interim Road Map (Map). Scale not given. Baton Rouge: Louisiana Department of Highways.
- ^ "Act No. 294, House Bill No. 791". State-Times. Baton Rouge. July 31, 1928. p. 3.
- ^ a b "Act No. 40, House Bill No. 311". State-Times. Baton Rouge. June 18, 1955. pp. 3B–7B.
- ^ Louisiana Department of Highways, Traffic and Planning Section (1950). Calcasieu Parish (East Section) (Map) (January 1, 1958 ed.). Scale not given. Baton Rouge: Louisiana Department of Highways.
- ^ Louisiana Department of Highways, Traffic and Planning Section (1954). Jefferson Davis Parish (Map) (January 1, 1958 ed.). Scale not given. Baton Rouge: Louisiana Department of Highways.
- ^ Louisiana Department of Highways (1975). Louisiana 1975 (Map). Scale not given. Baton Rouge: Louisiana Department of Highways.
- ^ a b c Google (February 26, 2018). "Overview Map of LA 27 Business" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
External links[edit]
- Maps / GIS Data Homepage, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development
- Louisiana Scenic Byways Homepage
Media related to Louisiana Highway 27 at Wikimedia Commons