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[UptownRoadGeek]

Everytime I pass this sign I wonder how many tourist or thru-motorist have to wonder which U.S. 90 to take. Especially now that both panels say West 90 and I think Business is either to the side or under the 90.

On U.S. 90 eastbound you get to a pull through for East U.S. 90 New Orleans for through lanes and the exit panel says East U.S. 90 Business New Orleans next right.
they could have at least changed the control cities.

[agentsteel53]

furthermore, isn't BUS US 90 a higher-grade expressway than regular US 90?  Or did I get confused the last time I was there due to poor signage?  I could've sworn regular US-90 had more traffic lights than BUS US 90.

[UptownRoadGeek]

Yeah, U.S. 90 Bus. is basically waiting for I-49 to be connected.  I think it's the highest grade expressway in the entire metro, except for maybe the new stretch of I-10 which is extremely rough to be new. The regular U.S. 90 probably has more traffic lights and turns than any street in the area.

[agentsteel53]

so I didn't get utterly confused.  They should call it BYPASS 90, in that case!

[UptownRoadGeek]

It's officially I-910. Just not signed.

[WillWeaverRVA]

so I didn't get utterly confused.  They should call it BYPASS 90, in that case!

Or they should switch the designations so the less-upgraded route is US 90 BUSINESS, but it'll be a moot point if/when I-49 comes to the area.

[bugo]

furthermore, isn't BUS US 90 a higher-grade expressway than regular US 90?  Or did I get confused the last time I was there due to poor signage?  I could've sworn regular US-90 had more traffic lights than BUS US 90.

Yeah I've always thought that was ass-backwards.

My opinion is that all the completed segments of I-49 from NO to KC should be signed.  The segments that aren't up to freeway standards should be signed "FUTURE" I-49.  They should also put "TO I-49" signage along the sections of US 71 that parallel future segments of I-49 that haven't been built yet.  That's the way they did it when they first started building the interstate system.  If it was good enough for the 1960s and 1970s, then it's good enough for today.

[agentsteel53]

there is no sensible reason why I-49 should be the number for an east-west freeway that runs entirely south of I-10.  I-6 is a much more practical number, if we're still in the business of handing out under-three-digit numbers to Louisiana for their highways that are entirely inside their state.  If we'd like to have a smarter policy, how about I-810?

[UptownRoadGeek]

It should be noted that, although FHWA offered I-910 to Louisiana, I have yet to find where LaDOTD actually accepted the number.  All of their recent route logs and shapefiles still list it as BUSINESS US 90.

Wow, I thought it was official.

[Sykotyk]

The 'swoop' from Lafayette to New Orleans of I-49 should be labeled something else. Unlike I-25 in New Mexico that turns north on the southbound side, there isn't going to be an eventual destination SOUTH of New Orleans for I-49.

Or unless you want to do a MI-5, and put up a sign in Lafayette at I-10 and say "I-49 South Ends, I-49 East Begins". Although unconventional for the choice of number, it does all I-49 a continuous route although bidirectional.

Sykotyk

[Hellfighter]

The 'swoop' from Lafayette to New Orleans of I-49 should be labeled something else. Unlike I-25 in New Mexico that turns north on the southbound side, there isn't going to be an eventual destination SOUTH of New Orleans for I-49.

Or unless you want to do a MI-5, and put up a sign in Lafayette at I-10 and say "I-49 South Ends, I-49 East Begins". Although unconventional for the choice of number, it does all I-49 a continuous route although bidirectional.

Sykotyk

Just make it either I-6 or even I-8. It may be going south, but if look at the whole freeway it does more east-west, which doesn't warrant it to be I-49.

[Darkchylde]

...My avatar voices my opinion on the whole "I-49 South" issue. 

Anyway. As for I-910 not being signed, I believe that Louisiana couldn't be bothered to sign it, since (in their view) they'll have to change the shields in a couple of years from 910 to 49. In their eyes, better to just wait til they can hang the 49 shields.

(What none of them in Baton Rouge seem to realize is that things take forever to get built around here, so honestly, I don't see I-49 getting signed in New Orleans in my lifetime. They may as well hang the damn 910 shields.)

[WillWeaverRVA]

I-810, anyone?

[Sykotyk]

Just make it either I-6 or even I-8. It may be going south, but if look at the whole freeway it does more east-west, which doesn't warrant it to be I-49.

True, but I-49 eventually will run to Kansas City some day.

Sykotyk

[Darkchylde]

Just make it either I-6 or even I-8. It may be going south, but if look at the whole freeway it does more east-west, which doesn't warrant it to be I-49.

True, but I-49 eventually will run to Kansas City some day.

Sykotyk

Louisiana actually has another case of "two Interstates, one termini" in the common south end of I-59 and east end of I-12 at I-10 in Slidell. Not all of I-49 should have the I-6 number, just the portion south of I-10 in Lafayette, running east to NOLA. The rest of the north/south route between Lafayette and KC is just fine as I-49.

[lamsalfl]

Noone calls it Bus 90 or US 90.   That picture is giving you the option of going to "Claiborne Ave" or CONTINUING on the "Pontchartrain Expressway" all the way to "Da Bridge".

[UptownRoadGeek]

Noone calls it Bus 90 or US 90.   That picture is giving you the option of going to "Claiborne Ave" or CONTINUING on the "Pontchartrain Expressway" all the way to "Da Bridge".

I wasn't referring to locals. If you are not from here and you don't know where you are going all you see is West 90 and West 90. I don't know too many people who aren't road geeks that actually even know what "business" means. If we started calling it by names it would be worse. How many tourists would know what "stay on the riverbound expressway to the bridge meant?" Somebody would probably end up in the East, if they knew which expressway they were on, thinking they were supposed to stay on the I-10. There is actually a handful of people who live in this city that fail the realize that they are no longer on the I-10 by the time they pass the Superdome.

Be real, the New Orleans highway system was not made for anyone who doesn't know where they are going.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Be real, the New Orleans highway system was not made for anyone who doesn't know where they are going.

You think that is a problem only to NOLA?   

[Urban Prairie Schooner]

Best solution is to reroute US 90 to follow the current business route, and renumber the current US 90 routing from Avondale to downtown NOLa as state highways. My suggestions would be a realigned and extended LA 48 for the Jefferson Highway/S Claiborne segment and an extension of LA 3152 along Clearview and across the HP Long Bridge through Bridge City.

The 90B route is the most optimal through alignment in any case.

In truth, most locals would likely not even notice since all these roads/bridges are referred to by their names in the local vernacular. Except for the Interstates, it would seem that route numbers are a nebulous concept to the typical, non-road enthusiast New Orleans area motorist.

[Alps]

Be real, the New Orleans highway system was not made for anyone who doesn't know where they are going.

The same could be applied to directions period in New Orleans.  One of the few places I've been where "West" actually means southeast...

Also see Ile de Montréal.  (Capital letters don't get accent marks, for the anal linguists.)

[lamsalfl]

I'm a roadgeek, and I'll have a hard time telling you the state road numbers in my own city.  Actually, I know LA 39, 46, and 47.  Other than that....

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Signing state routes seem to be an option not a fact when dealing with cities in Louisiana*

*-Opinion based on driving in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Lake Charles

[Darkchylde]

I'm a roadgeek, and I'll have a hard time telling you the state road numbers in my own city.  Actually, I know LA 39, 46, and 47.  Other than that....

Chalmette?

[Anthony_JK]

...My avatar voices my opinion on the whole "I-49 South" issue. 

Anyway. As for I-910 not being signed, I believe that Louisiana couldn't be bothered to sign it, since (in their view) they'll have to change the shields in a couple of years from 910 to 49. In their eyes, better to just wait til they can hang the 49 shields.

(What none of them in Baton Rouge seem to realize is that things take forever to get built around here, so honestly, I don't see I-49 getting signed in New Orleans in my lifetime. They may as well hang the damn 910 shields.)

First off, they can't post those I-910 shields on the Westbank Expressway until they get to finishing elevating the WB all the way to US 90...due to Fed rules about an Interstate spur ending on a US or NHS system highway.

Secondly...renaming proposed I-49 South as I-6 would still create a bit of a problem with the section through Lafayette, which is still mostly N-S and also carries a segment of US 167 (which I-49 overlays between Lafayette and just north of Opelousas). Personally, I'd rather that they keep the I-49 designation for continunity's sake...unless the Lafayette Metro Expressway outer toll loop on the southern and western sides of Lafayette is also built.  Then you can route I-6 through there and the rest of US 90 just south and east of Lafayette, and keep I-49 for the urban portion through Lafayette.

And third...given the money issues, and the fact that the locals are now seriously talking about truncating I-49 South to overlay I-310 and end just west of New Orleans, they might just have to revive those I-910 shields...if they ever get to completing the Westbank Expressway, that is.


Anthony

[Darkchylde]

That's the first I've heard of that kind of rule about where an I-spur can end.