Louisiana Highway 25

LA 25 is an undivided two-lane highway for virtually its entire length.[2] The highway is classified as a rural minor arterial by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (La DOTD). Daily traffic volume in 2013 peaked at 19,100 vehicles in Covington, 13,000 in Franklinton, and 10,700 in Folsom. The remainder of the route generally averaged between 2,600 and 5,500 vehicles daily.[6] The posted speed limit is 55 mph (90 km/h) in rural areas, reduced to 35 mph (55 km/h) in Folsom and 25 mph (40 km/h) in Franklinton.[2]

The bridge across the Bogue Chitto River at Franklinton, which is shared by LA 10, LA 16, and LA 25 is officially designated as the Chess Richardson Bridge, in honor of Hardy Chesley "Chess" Richardson (1869-1952), a Franklinton native who served at various times as Postmaster of Franklinton, sheriff of Washington Parish, state senator from District 22, and U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Louisiana.[7]

LA 25 also serves as a hurricane evacuation route for the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain and is one of the few north–south through routes heading into Mississippi between Interstates 55 and 59.

In the original Louisiana Highway system in use prior to 1955, the modern LA 25 was part of State Route 34.[8] Designated in 1921 as one of the original 98 state highways, Route 34 also followed the present US 190 corridor from Covington to Slidell.[8][9] US 190 was assigned to this portion of the route in 1926 when the U.S. Highway System was created.[10][11] The two highways remained co-signed on the shared route until this practice was largely abandoned with the 1955 Louisiana Highway renumbering.[8]

LA 25 was created in the 1955 renumbering, replacing the portion of former Route 34 independent of US 190.

La 25—From a junction with La-US 190 at or near Chinchuba through or near Covington, Folsom and Franklinton to the Mississippi State Line near Warnerton.[12]

— 1955 legislative route description[12]

During its first year, LA 25 extended south of Covington to a terminus at what is now LA 22 in Mandeville since the renumbering occurred when US 190 was temporarily routed through Madisonville and Ponchatoula.[8] The exact southern terminus of LA 25 was at the present intersection of US 190 and LA 3228 (Asbury Drive). At that time, the highway between Mandeville and Covington was a two-lane road without interchanges or control of access. The original roadbed followed the current southbound lanes south of I-12 and the northbound lanes north of I-12. Additionally, the US 190 bypass of Covington did not yet exist. The original route through town followed the present US 190 Bus. north to LA 21, turning west onto Boston Street then north onto Columbia Street to the present southern terminus of LA 25. When US 190 was moved back to its regular route through Covington in 1956, the southern terminus of LA 25 was cut back to the intersection of Boston and Columbia Streets.[13]

In 1958, the north–south portion of the Covington bypass was opened, which consisted of a new bridge across the Bogue Falaya River and the thoroughfare now known as Collins Boulevard.[14][15] These improvements formed the northern end of the Greater New Orleans Expressway, of which the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway was the centerpiece. LA 25 was initially moved onto the bypass, which took it out of Downtown Covington. (The old route along Columbia Street became part of an extended LA 437 and the newly designated LA 437 Spur until being removed from the state highway system in 2015.)[1][16] In 1969, the Covington bypass was completed, which consisted of the east–west portion now known as Ronald Reagan Highway. Now connecting to US 190 at either end, that route was moved onto the bypass, with the old route through the downtown area becoming US 190 Bus., and LA 25 was cut back once more to its present southern terminus.[17]

Outside of Covington, LA 25 has experienced only minor changes. The first was a slight altering of the route through Franklinton shortly after the 1955 renumbering. LA 25 originally turned north from Washington Street onto Cleveland Street before continuing onto Main Street. The change had the highway turn directly onto Main Street, which simplified the highway junctions in Franklinton, as LA 10, LA 16, and LA 25 now intersected at the same four-way intersection.[18][19]

Several minor curves were straightened when the entirety of LA 25 north of Franklinton was widened and repaved in 1960.[20] The first was at the junction with LA 38 at Clifton, where the original route survives as two local roads, Fred Thomas Road and Winnifred Bateman Road. The second was just south of Warnerton, where the old route survives as Sanford Road. The third was just north of the LA 438 junction where the old route has been abandoned.[5][19] Another curve was straightened south of Folsom when a new bridge was built over Morgan Branch as part of the widening and resurfacing of the highway south of Franklinton in 1963.[3][21][22]

A new $8.2 million concrete beam bridge across the Bogue Chitto River bridge at Franklinton began construction on February 6, 1995 and opened to traffic on March 18, 1998, replacing a pony truss bridge dating from 1935.[23][24] The span was officially named the Chess Richardson Bridge by an act of the state legislature in 1998.[25]