Highways in Louisiana

In Louisiana, Interstate 20 roughly parallels U.S. 80 through the northern part of the state.

Entering the state from near Waskom, Texas, the highway immediately enters the Shreveport-Bossier City metropolitan area, intersecting Interstate 49 near downtown Shreveport and passing close to Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier city.

From that area, the highway traverses mainly rural, hilly terrain, bypassing Minden, Ruston and Grambling before reaching Monroe.

From Monroe, I-20 enters flatter terrain as it approaches the Mississippi River. Before crossing the Mississippi, the highway passes Tallulah. At the Mississippi River, I-20 leaves Louisiana and enters Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Interstate 20 enters Louisiana about 20 miles east of Marshall. Interstate 20 passes through Greenwood to the north of town, where US 80/ 79 serve as the main east-west highway. I-20 enters Shreveport about 5 miles east of Greenwood. I-20 intersects I-220 (the north Shreveport bypass) and Hwy 3132 (the south Shreveport bypass) on the westside of the city. On the way to Downtown Shreveport, I-20 intersects US 171 and serves as the current northern terminus of I-49.

As I-20 leaves Shreveport, it passes through Bossier City where it shares a overlap with US 71. I-20 passes north of Barksdale AFB where it intersects I-220 and heads east towards Monroe. On its way to Monroe, I-20 passes through the towns of Minden, Arcadia, Grambling, Ruston, and West Monroe.

I-20 passes through Monroe, where it intersects US 165. East of Monroe, I-20 passes through Rayville, Delhi, and Tullulah. About 15 miles east of Tallulah, I-20 crosses over the Mississippi River into Mississippi in Vicksburg.

Interstate 420 was to be a bypass of Monroe, Louisiana. Initially proposed in the late 1950s, this route was to have been only two lanes wide at a cost $29 million with a projected 2,500 to 3,000 ADT in 1964. The project was effectively canceled on October 12, 1964, when then Louisiana Representative Hale Boggs agreed to no longer seek funding for the route. This was done in favor of focusing all efforts at funding and getting built New Orleans' Vieux Carré Expressway.