Vicksburg to I-10 Query

Lafayette traffic can be bad. Your best route thru Lafayette is as Laman advised. The Ambassador Caffery and Johnston St (US167) is a major shopping area so if you can time it so you are not there on a weekend afternoon you will be better off.
Going East to Alabama you really only have two choices - thru Baton Rouge or New Orleans. The choke point in BR is that I-10 narrows to 1 lane coming off the Mississippi River bridge. Best bet is time so you pass on Sunday morning.
On either I-10 or US90 there are rough sections.

Thanks!!

When we leave Palmetto SP we will want to get back on I-10 heading East to Alabama
I suppose winding around some back roads from Palmetto we can get onto I- 10 east of Baton Rouge and avoid that area again

Laman wrote:
I was in that area last week visiting family and sightseeing. You can avoid the potential congestion over the i-10 bridge by coming down Hwy 61 in Ms into BR and take hwy 190 west over the old bridge, but again avo(id am and pm rush hours. I would then suggest just stay on 190, because I-10 before Lafayette is extremely rough), all the way to Opelousas where you would pick up I-49 and head south to 10. I would suggest you go west on 10 to exit 100 than south on Amb. Caffery, (this road is very rough for about 3 miles)to 167 than take a right that goes straight to Abbeville and than on to Palmetto Park.

We did not stay at Palmetto but did drive down to look at it and were very impressed and put it on our to do list. One warning is to bring everything you will need as the park is an inconvenient distance from Abbeville. There is also a neat little city park in Abbeville where we stayed. Heat index when we were there was 112!

The choice of crossing at St.Francisville is also a good one but again I suggest taking 190 west to avoid west bound I-10, the area around Breaux Bridge had me down to 50mph.

I was in that area last week visiting family and sightseeing. You can avoid the potential congestion over the i-10 bridge by coming down Hwy 61 in Ms into BR and take hwy 190 west over the old bridge, but again avo(id am and pm rush hours. I would then suggest just stay on 190, because I-10 before Lafayette is extremely rough), all the way to Opelousas where you would pick up I-49 and head south to 10. I would suggest you go west on 10 to exit 100 than south on Amb. Caffery, (this road is very rough for about 3 miles)to 167 than take a right that goes straight to Abbeville and than on to Palmetto Park.

We did not stay at Palmetto but did drive down to look at it and were very impressed and put it on our to do list. One warning is to bring everything you will need as the park is an inconvenient distance from Abbeville. There is also a neat little city park in Abbeville where we stayed. Heat index when we were there was 112!

The choice of crossing at St.Francisville is also a good one but again I suggest taking 190 west to avoid west bound I-10, the area around Breaux Bridge had me down to 50mph.

I would be inclined to take US-84 then LA-28 to Alexandria, not go near Baton Rouge. I take roads like those all the time to route well around cities that are bottlenecks on the Interstate system. Baton Rouge is one of the worst.

For me, this would be an experiment, because I've not traveled those two roads specifically in the past 10 years, and I've generally found roads in Louisiana less well maintained than those in Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas, so I tend to try to drive around the whole state.

thumb, not sure where you are staying in Vidalia, but I think there is only one park there, so I guess I do know. Have fun and enjoy the sites of Natchez. I think the best part was the horse drawn carriage tour. Driver was an retired gentleman, who did the tours because he loved history and sharing.

Can't tell you how to avoid Baton Rouge, cause that was our next stop. Stayed at the Equestrian Park for several days. Mid week it was great, when I left on Friday, it was beginning to fill up. It is very near LSU campus and stadium, so there were lots of Tigers in the lot.

Thanks to all

Great info and much appreciated
We will look over your 2 options and for sure bypass Baton Rouge
Wondering if one route option is more scenic than the other?

How is Lafayette traffic? Looks like a much less congested area

We will be heading for Palmetto State Park

Our best to you folks

How about US84 west to LA28 which connects to I-49. We just drove US84 and it's a bit rough but OK. Don't know about LA28. Lots of roads in LA need repaving! We just took it slow.

From 61 I would take LA10 at StFrancisville to LA1 in New Roads to I-49 or 167 in Opelousas.

bgum wrote:
Baton Rouge is best avoided. The bridge is a parking lot 7 days a week. At any time of the day or night Baton Rouge can become a parking lot. Until the state makes some real improvements and builds a bridge south of and bypassing downtown Baton Rouge you should avoid the area.

Totally agree! We have found that it is best to go thru the area at lunch time. Still allot of traffic, but it moves. We did make one mistake of going thu on a Saturday and was stuck in college football traffic for an hour!

Baton Rouge is best avoided. The bridge is a parking lot 7 days a week. At any time of the day or night Baton Rouge can become a parking lot. Until the state makes some real improvements and builds a bridge south of and bypassing downtown Baton Rouge you should avoid the area.