Final Purpose and Need for the Ouachita Loop
The Final Purpose and Need statement for the Ouachita Loop was approved by the Federal
Highway Administration and was concurred upon by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in July of 1998.
The contents of this document are summarized below. Click here to download a copy of the entire Final Purpose and
Need statement in Adobe Acrobat format.
Purpose
The purpose of the Ouachita Loop is to provide a transportation facility around the
Monroe/West Monroe urban area that:
- Connects to I-20 on the east and west,
- Reduces congestion on Louisville Avenue, DeSiard Street, US 165, and Jonesboro Road and
in so doing moves people and goods more efficiently across the Ouachita River and within
Ouachita Parish,
- Provides for the strengthening of current economic activities and encourages appropriate
economic growth opportunity, not a redistribution of existing resources,
- Enhances access to and around the core urbanized area to promote land use to be
centralized within the loop, and
- Provides an opportunity to connect useable existing Interstate interchanges within a
corridor around the Monroe and West Monroe urbanized areas and within the edge of current
growth upon which the future transportation system can be developed.
Need
The following items describe the need for the Ouachita Loop:
- Projected transportation demand and capacity deficiencies,
- Potential for increased economic development,
- Roadway system linkage,
- Inclusion in transportation plan, and
- Corridor preservation.
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Last revised: November 01, 1999