Louisiana Highway 68

LA 68 is an undivided two-lane highway for its entire length.[2] The route is classified by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (La DOTD) as a rural major collector south of Jackson and as a rural minor collector between Jackson and Wilson. Daily traffic volume in 2013 averaged between 2,900 and 3,100 vehicles south of Jackson, peaking at 4,000 near the LA 10 junction. The northern portion of the route averaged only 560 vehicles daily.[5] The posted speed limit is generally 55 mph (90 km/h) but is reduced as low as 25 mph (40 km/h) within the village of Wilson.[2]

In the original Louisiana Highway system in use between 1921 and 1955, the modern LA 68 was part of three different state routes, as follows: State Route 888 from the southern terminus to LA 964; State Route 74 to Jackson; and State Route 311 to the northern terminus in Wilson.[6]

Route 74 was designated in 1921 by the state legislature as one of the original 98 state highway routes.[7] It was a short but important connector between the town of Jackson and State Route 3, which became the original alignment of US 61 in 1926.

Route 74. Beginning near Lindsay Station on Route No. 3 to a point on Route 35, near Jackson.

— 1921 legislative route description[7]

By the end of the decade, the northern and southern extensions of this road connecting to Wilson and Port Hudson, respectively, were taken over by the Louisiana Highway Commission. They were given separate route numbers, however, as was the common practice at the time. Route 74 was improved from a dirt to a gravel road around 1929[8][9] and to a paved road in 1949.[10][11] The route remained otherwise the same during the pre-1955 era.

LA 68 was created in the 1955 renumbering, creating a continuous route between the Port Hudson area through Jackson to Wilson.[12][13]

Class "B": La 68—From a junction with La-US 61 near Lindsay to a junction with La 10 at or near Jackson.
Class "C": La 68—From a junction with La-US 61 at or near Alsen through or near Port Hudson to a junction with La-US 61 northwest of Lindsay and from a junction with La 10 east of Jackson to a junction with La 19 at or near Wilson.

— 1955 legislative route description[12]

With the 1955 renumbering, the state highway department initially categorized all routes into three classes: "A" (primary), "B" (secondary), and "C" (farm-to-market).[14] This system has since been updated and replaced by a more specific functional classification system.

As the route description indicates, LA 68 originally had two junctions with US 61, neither of which was located at the present junction. At the time, US 61 followed what is now LA 964 through East Feliciana Parish. The present alignment of US 61 was a gravel road running alongside the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway and was part of LA 68.[15] In the early 1960s, this road was improved and extended north toward the West Feliciana Parish line, streamlining much of US 61 between Baton Rouge and St. Francisville.[16][17] The LA 68 designation was then truncated to its present southern terminus near Port Hudson. Since then, there have been no other changes to the alignment of LA 68, although some minor curves along the route have been straightened over the years.