BATON ROUGE, La. – The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) has extended U.S. 425 south and east by redesignating existing routes to provide one continuous route from Natchez, Miss., to Little Rock, Ark.

Jim Porter, DOTD planning support engineer, said the action is the result of a joint effort between the Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi transportation departments. He said installation of new signage is under way and should be complete by Thursday (March 16).

Prior to this action, U.S. 425 ran about 17 miles into the state of Louisiana from Arkansas, ending at Bastrop in Morehouse Parish. Now U.S. 425 will run about 120 miles within the state from the Louisiana-Mississippi line in Concordia Parish to the Arkansas-Louisiana line in Morehouse Parish.

U.S. 425 will replace a portion of the U.S. 65 designation in Concordia Parish from the state line to La. 15 and run concurrently with U.S. 84 through Vidalia/Ferriday. The designation will run concurrently with La. 15 through Concordia, Catahoula and Franklin parishes. It will replace La. 137 and a portion of La. 133 in Richland and Ouachita parishes and will run concurrently with U.S. 165 and La. 2 in Morehouse Parish.

 “The idea behind redesignating these roads into one continuous stretch under the name U.S. 425 is to provide a more direct route for travelers,” Porter said. 

“Now a traveler will be able to follow the signs for U.S. 425 from Natchez to Little Rock rather than the less direct routes that are currently designated.”

The plan to extend U.S. 425 to Natchez from Bastrop includes:

·        In Natchez, Miss., at the southwest intersection of U.S. 84 and U.S. 61, U.S. 425 will replace route U.S. 65 proceeding east across the Mississippi-Louisiana state line and concurrently with U.S. 84 to Ferriday.

·        From Ferriday, it replaces U.S. 65 proceeding north and concurrently with La. 15 to Clayton.

·        From Clayton, U.S. 425 proceeds north and concurrently with La. 15 to Archibald and its intersection with La. 137.

·        From Archibald, it replaces La. 137 proceeding north to its intersection with La. 133 south of Oak Ridge.

·        From its intersection with La. 133, U.S. 425 replaces the portion of La. 133 proceeding north to Mer Rouge and its intersection with concurrent U.S. 165 and La. 2.

·        From Mer Rouge, it proceeds west and concurrently with U.S. 165 and La. 2 to Bastrop and its intersection with existing route U.S. 425.

·        And from Bastrop, existing route U.S. 425 proceeds north to the Arkansas-Louisiana line and continues in Arkansas to Little Rock.

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Digital map provided with the e-mailed press release.

It also is available by calling Allen at the DOTD Communications Office number above.