.svg) Louisiana Highway 98 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Route of LA 98 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byLouisiana DOTD | ||||
| Length | 47.756 mi[1] (76.856 km) | |||
| Existed | 1955 renumbering–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |   LA 97 /LA 1123 west ofIota | |||
| Major intersections | ||||
| East end |  LA 354 at theLafayette–St. Martin parish line east of Carencro | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Louisiana | |||
| Parishes | Acadia,Lafayette | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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Louisiana Highway 98 (LA 98) is astate highway located in southernLouisiana. It runs 47.76 miles (76.86 km) in an east–west direction from the junction ofLA 97 andLA 1123 west ofIota to theLafayette–St. Martin parish line east ofCarencro.
The route traverses the rural area north of and parallel toInterstate 10 (I-10) andU.S. Highway 90 (US 90) betweenJennings andLafayette. It briefly dips southward into the city ofRayne and intersects I-10 by way of a concurrency withLA 35. Otherwise, LA 98 largely passes through small rural communities, such asIota,Maxie,Roberts Cove, andMire. Near the east end of its route, LA 98 cuts between the adjacent cities of Lafayette and Carencro.
LA 98 was designated in the1955 Louisiana Highway renumbering from portions of ten former routes. It thus takes a segmented and serpentine path through much ofAcadia Parish. In Lafayette Parish, however, the route was almost entirely relocated onto the straight alignment of Gloria Switch Road around 1990. Rather the terminating in the center of Carencro, the current route passes through an interchange withI-49/US 167 south of town and extends eastward to what was formerlyLA 354. Most of LA 98 is planned to be eliminated from the state highway system as part of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development's (La DOTD) Road Transfer Program.
From the west, LA 98 begins at a junction withLA 97 (Evangeline Highway) andLA 1123 (Des Cannes Highway) west ofIota, a small town inAcadia Parish. The route heads due east as an undivided two-lane highway on Des Cannes Highway through rural farmland, broken briefly by a wooded area on either side ofBayou des Cannes. LA 98 follows West Kennedy Avenue into Iota and intersectsLA 91. The two highways zigzag through town concurrently, south onto Frey Street, southeast onto Duson Avenue (the main street), and southwest onto 5th Street. About 0.5 miles (0.80 km) beyond the local high school, LA 98 turns due east onto St. Joseph Avenue and heads out of town.[2][3][4]
LA 98 crosses theAcadiana Railway (AKDN) line atMaxie and zigzags briefly ontoLA 13, connecting withCrowley to the south andEunice to the north. For the next 11 miles (18 km), the highway takes a winding course southeastward throughRoberts Cove and into the city ofRayne.[2][3][4]
In Rayne, LA 98 intersectsLA 35 just north of that highway's interchange withI-10 (exit 87), connecting withLafayette to the east andLake Charles to the west. LA 98 turns south and overlaps LA 35 through thediamond interchange, where the roadway is briefly widened to a divided four-lane capacity. Once the highway leaves the commercial corridor situated near the exit, the median is discontinued as LA 35 and LA 98 proceed south along what is locally known as The Boulevard. After about six blocks, LA 98 turns east onto Jeff Davis Avenue and returns to two-lane capacity while LA 35 continues ahead toward the downtown area situated alongUS 90.[2][3][4]
Shortly after exiting the Rayne city limits, LA 98 turns north onto Grand Prairie Highway and crosses back over I-10 without intersecting it. After passing throughArceneaux, LA 98 resumes its eastward course atCastille and crossesLA 95 atMire, north ofDuson. The highway has a brief concurrency withLA 343 that ends at a T-intersection marking the boundary of three parishes: Acadia,Lafayette, andSt. Landry.[2][3][4]
LA 98 continues due east into Lafayette Parish and intersectsLA 93 at aroundabout located north ofScott. The route follows Gloria Switch Road into the sprawling, rural city ofCarencro, located adjacent to the larger city of Lafayette. LA 98 intersectsLA 182 (North University Avenue) then begins to straddle the line between the two cities. Shortly after making two 90° turns, LA 98 passes through a diamond interchange with the concurrentI-49/US 167 at exit 2. The highway continues east for another 4.4 miles (7.1 km) until reaching its terminus at a T-intersection with Sawmill Highway, a local road.[2][4][5]
LA 98 has severalfunctional classifications over the course of its route, as determined by theLouisiana Department of Transportation and Development (La DOTD). It is classified as an urban principal arterial in Carencro and an urban minor arterial in Rayne. Outside of these cities, the highway ranges from a rural major collector through the Iota area to a rural local road over the lightly traveled portions near Maxie and Mire. Daily traffic volume in 2013 peaked at 18,500 vehicles in Rayne and 7,000 through Carencro. The rural portions of the route generally averaged less than 3,000 vehicles daily with a low of 970 reported between Maxie and Roberts Cove.[6] The posted speed limit is generally 55 mph (90 km/h) in rural areas, reduced to between 30 mph (50 km/h) and 45 mph (70 km/h) through town.[2]
In theoriginal Louisiana Highway system in use between 1921 and 1955, LA 98 was part of a number of different routes including:State Route 370 from the western terminus to Iota,State Route 1044 to Maxie,State Route 368 to Roberts Cove,State Route 365 to Rayne,State Route 363 to Castille,State Route 1021 to Mire,State Route 117 just east of Mire,State Route 989 into Lafayette Parish,State Route 161 toVatican, andState Route 178 to Carencro.[7][8] These route segments were joined under the single designation of LA 98 when theLouisiana Department of Highways renumbered the state highway system in 1955.[9]
La 98—From a junction with La 97 west of Iota through or near Iota, Maxie, Rayne and Castille to a junction with La-US 167 at or near Carencro.
— 1955 legislative route description[9]
The two significant changes to the route since the1955 renumbering have resulted from the nearby construction of interstate highways. In December 1966, I-10 was completed through the Rayne area with an interchange that disrupted the right-of-way of LA 98.[10][11][12] The highway was re-routed to make a longer loop through town that included a concurrency with LA 35. Three years earlier, US 167 was moved from what is now LA 182 onto a new four-lane alignment through Carencro with partial access control.[11][13][14] It included an interchange with Gloria Switch Road, a local road, located south of town. Between 1981 and 1983, the new alignment of US 167 was upgraded to interstate standards as part of I-49.[15][16] Around 1990, LA 98 was moved from its original serpentine route that terminated in the center of Carencro.[17][18] It was re-routed to follow Gloria Switch Road to the I-49/US 167 interchange, a more logical traffic pattern, and continue to the parish line at what was onceLA 354 (Sawmill Highway, now a local road).[19]
La DOTD is currently engaged in a program that aims to transfer about 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of state-owned roadways to local governments over the next several years.[20] Under this plan of "right-sizing" the state highway system, most of LA 98 is proposed for deletion as it no longer meets a significant interurban travel function. The main exception is the portion of the route west of Maxie, which passes through the town of Iota. Two other short portions near Rayne and Mire are to be retained and will likely be incorporated into the routes of connecting highways.[21] As of 2017, the portion in Rayne from LA 35 to Llama Road is under agreement to be removed from the state highway system and transferred to local control.[22]
| Parish | Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acadia | | 0.000 | 0.000 | LA 97 (Evangeline Highway) –Jennings,Basile LA 1123 north (Des Cannes Highway) | Western terminus of LA 98; southern terminus of LA 1123 |
| Iota | 5.260 | 8.465 |  LA 91 north –Eunice,Basile | West end of LA 91 concurrency | |
| 5.868 | 9.444 |   LA 370 east (Duson Avenue) | Western terminus of LA 370 | ||
| 6.610 | 10.638 |  LA 91 south (South 5th Street) –Egan | East end of LA 91 concurrency | ||
| | 7.935 | 12.770 |  LA 1120 (Gravot Road) | Northern terminus of LA 1120 | |
| | 10.452 | 16.821 |  LA 3070 (McCain Road) | ||
| Maxie | 12.823 | 20.637 |  LA 13 north (Crowley-Eunice Highway) –Eunice | West end of LA 13 concurrency | |
| 12.913 | 20.781 | LA 13 south (Crowley-Eunice Highway) –Crowley | East end of LA 13 concurrency | ||
| | 13.902 | 22.373 |  LA 1109 (Schule Road) | Southern terminus of LA 1109 | |
| | 15.622 | 25.141 |  LA 1110 (Providence Highway) | Western terminus of LA 1110 | |
| | 18.446 | 29.686 |  LA 1111 (Bayou Plaquemine Road) –Crowley | Northern terminus of LA 1111 | |
| Roberts Cove | 20.741 | 33.379 |   LA 1113 Spur (Wabash Road) | Western terminus of LA 1113 Spur | |
| 21.131 | 34.007 | LA 1113 (Candy Lane) | Southern terminus of LA 1113 | ||
| | 22.149 | 35.645 |  LA 367 (White Oak Highway) –Church Point | Southern terminus of LA 367 | |
| Rayne | 24.069– 24.080 | 38.735– 38.753 |  LA 35 north (Church Point Highway) –Church Point | West end of LA 35 concurrency | |
| 24.107– 24.239 | 38.796– 39.009 |  I-10 –Lafayette,Lake Charles | Exit 87 on I-10 | ||
| 24.890 | 40.057 | LA 35 south (Clegg Street) | East end of LA 35 concurrency | ||
| Arceneaux | 30.259 | 48.697 |  LA 1097 (Heritage Road) | Western terminus of LA 1097 | |
| Castille | 31.339 | 50.435 |  LA 1101 north (Castille Highway) | Southern terminus of LA 1101 | |
| | 32.070 | 51.612 |  LA 1100 (Higginbotham Highway) | Southern terminus of LA 1100 | |
| Mire | 33.113 | 53.290 |  LA 95 (Mire Highway) –Duson,Church Point | ||
| | 35.148 | 56.565 |  LA 365 (Osage Trail) | Eastern terminus of LA 365 | |
| | 35.175 | 56.609 |  LA 343 south (Credeur Road) | West end of LA 343 concurrency | |
| Acadia–Lafayette– St. Landry parish tripoint | | 36.181 | 58.228 | LA 343 north (Bosco Highway) | East end of LA 343 concurrency |
| Lafayette | | 37.688 | 60.653 |  LA 93 –Scott,Cankton | Roundabout |
| Carencro | 41.702 | 67.113 |  LA 182 (North University Avenue) | ||
| Carencro–Lafayette line | 43.237– 43.372 | 69.583– 69.800 |   I-49 /US 167 –Lafayette,Opelousas | Exit 2 on I-49/US 167 | |
| 44.376 | 71.416 |  LA 176 (Moss Street) | Northern terminus of LA 176 | ||
| Lafayette–St. Martin parish line | | 47.756 | 76.856 | LA 354 (Sawmill Highway) | Eastern terminus |
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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