Driving Roads in Louisiana

Louisiana rewards drivers with landscape changes rather than mountain passes. In the southwest, the Creole Nature Trail All-American Road follows highways through coastal prairie, marshes, wildlife refuges, cheniers, and stretches near the Gulf of Mexico. Along the Mississippi River, Great River Road routes connect levee country, agricultural land, historic communities, and the corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Central Louisiana provides a different driving environment in Kisatchie National Forest, where the Longleaf Trail Scenic Byway follows Forest Highway 59 through longleaf-pine country, rolling hills, sandstone formations, and elevated viewpoints unusual for the state. Elsewhere, quieter state highways cross bayou country, bottomland hardwood forests, and the Cajun and Creole landscapes of Acadiana. Roads in wetlands and coastal parishes can be remote, with long distances between services, while forest routes may be narrower and subject to local access restrictions or temporary closures.