Baton Rouge bypass query

Your fastest route is straight through BR on I-10/12. Avoid morning rush east to west. and evening rush west to east. Also the traffic will backup on the west bound lane from the Mississippi Bridge to Lobdell and beyond starting at about 2:00 PM. Since they widened to 3 lanes the traffic flows much better through BR.

Actually there is a new bridge crossing the Mississippi north of Baton Rouge at St. Francisville. You could take highway 61 north from BR to the bridge than cross to New Roads and then down to Hwy 190 than west. However that is a long way to go to avoid a little traffic around BR. I-12 to I-10 thru BR is the fastest, but just like any city avoid the rush hour's hope there are no accidents and you will be fine.

Many years ago there was a ferry that was located at New Roads north of Baton Rouge not sure if it is still operational.

Took my old pop-up on that route a few times.

UPDATE

Just looked the New Roads ferry is closed however there are two ferry's operating 15 minutes south of Baton Rouge on LA 75 at Plaquemine.

Since you are going WEST your best bet is thru Baton Rouge on I-12. Best times are weekends (except LSU home game ones) and non rush hour on week days. Once you merge to I-10 in BR you want to get into one of the left two lanes as they are the ones that cross the bridge.

You can try to take US-190 around the outer side of Baton Rouge. Traffic on city streets is likely to be more stressful than on the interstate.

The big problem is there isn't a bridge across the Mississippi north of the Baton Rouge US-190 bridge until you get to Natchez, MS. That turns a 315 mile trip into a 460 mile trip.

South of the I-10 bridge in Baton Rouge the next bridge across the Mississippi is the LA-70 bridge near Donaldsonville. Which puts you on the West Bank in the middle of nowhere.

Some might think going through New Orleans and then US-90 across the swamps is a good route. It adds 45 miles or so to the trip. The traffic through New Orleans is never better than the traffic in Baton Rouge.

US-90 is a great scenic drive. It is SLOW, it is frequent stops for construction - and the road suffered several damaged bridges and washouts during the recent flooding.

Yeah I-12 is the bypass. It's really only rough for a few miles right in BR (as of last Feb). Be sure you have enough fuel to make it to Breaux Bridge. The stretch from Baton Rouge west is 2 lane raise bridge with only a single exit between the 2.

I-12 from Slidell to BR is the correct route, but traffic is heavy since the flooding, it may be better when you go thru

take 12 through Baton Rouge, rather than following 10 all the way down to New Orleans.. Baton Rouge isn't horrible.. I have driven through worse, including Atlanta

I agree, no good alternative

The only bypass would also be bad. It would be thru New Orleans area. For BR hit it between 10 and 3. There can be a backup at any time. West to east is worse than east to west.