Skip to main content

Pointe à la Hache Ferry (Pointe à la Hache, LA)

Image
By

 

Near the mouth of the Mississippi River, the village of Pointe à la Hache (pronounced like “Point la Hatch”) is the southernmost permanent community on the east bank of the Mississippi River, located about 50 miles upriver from the Head of Passes Light, the official mouth of the river at the end of the delta. This community, which has been the parish seat of Plaquemines Parish since the parish’s establishment in 1807, has a population of less than 200, yet is also home to the southernmost public vehicle crossing on the river. This ferry service has operated commercially in this location since 1933 and like its neighboring ferries upriver, this crossing requires the payment of a toll and ferries depart from each landing every 30 minutes on most days.

The eastern ferry landing leads to the southern reaches of LA Highway 39, which follows the east bank of the river northward toward St. Bernard Parish and greater New Orleans. The western ferry landing leads to LA Highway 23 (sometimes known as Belle Chasse Highway), which follows the west bank of the river northward toward greater New Orleans and southward toward Venice and the mouth of the Mississippi River. Due to its isolated location over an hour’s drive downriver from greater New Orleans, this is the lightest-trafficked of the ferry services on the Mississippi River in Louisiana. The population of Plaquemines Parish on the east bank of the river was reduced to a hardy few following the devastation brought to the area by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. As a result of the lack of population on that side of the river since then, traffic counts on this ferry crossing have been drastically lower over the last 20 years than in the years leading up to 2005.

Since 2013, the ferry has been closed to heavier commercial vehicles, meaning that any such traffic must utilize the ferries closer to the city or even divert to the Crescent City Connection. All in all and in spite of the lack of vehicle traffic, this is a quintessentially Louisianan experience for folks who enjoy an old-fashioned, isolated transportation experience near the mouth of one of America’s great rivers.

The following pictures were taken during my westbound crossing of the Pointe à la Hache Ferry in January 2017. Click on each photo to see a larger version.



The following pictures were taken during my eastbound crossing of the Pointe à la Hache Ferry in January 2017. Click on each photo to see a larger version.

Dashcam video of the eastbound trip over the Pointe à la Hache Ferry was filmed in January 2017 for the 'roadwaywiz' YouTube channel and is available for viewing at the link below:


Dashcam video of the westbound trip over the Pointe à la Hache Ferry was filmed in January 2017 for the 'roadwaywiz' YouTube channel and is available for viewing at the link below:

How To Get There:

Bridges, Crossings, and Structures of the Lower Mississippi River
Next Crossing upriver: Belle Chasse-Scarsdale Ferry (Belle Chasse, LA)
Next Crossing downriver: Mouth of the Mississippi River
Return to the Bridges of the Lower Mississippi River Home Page
__________________________________________________

Labels:
Location: Pointe à la Hache, LA 70082, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hawaii Route 8930

By
Hawaii Route 8930 is a 2.5-mile State Highway on the Island of O'hau.  Hawaii Route 8930 is aligned over Kualakai Parkway over the course of its entire alignment south from Interstate H-1 to Kapolei Parkway.  Hawaii Route 8930 is one of the newest Hawaii Routes only having been completed during 2010.   This page is part of the Gribblenation O'ahu Highways page.  All Gribblenation and Roadwaywiz media related to the highway system of O'ahu can be found at the link below: https://www.gribblenation.org/p/gribblenation-oahu-highways-page.html Part 1; the history of Hawaii Route 8930 The history of Hawaii Route 8930 is brief given it is a modern facility.  Hawaii Route 8930 and what was known as "North-South Road" were built to facilitate the developing areas of Kapolei on western O'ahu.  According to hawaiihighways.com the first stage of Hawaii Route 8930 was completed from Kapolei Parkway north to Farrington Highway as a four-lane highway during November...
Post a Comment
Read more

Madera County Road 607 and the Stockton-Los Angeles Road

By
Madera County Road 607 is an approximately seven-mile rural unsurfaced highway which spans from Road 600 near Raymond west to Road 29.   Road 607 west from Raymond Road Cemetery (established in 1905) is part of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road corridor surveyed in 1853. The corridor lies in the gap between Fresno Crossing at the Fresno River west to Newton's Crossing at the Chowchilla River. The Buchanan Copper Mine would be along what is now Road 607 in the namesake Buchanan Hollow during July 1863. The Buchanan Mine is thought to have once had a population of between 1,000-1,500 residents by the early 1870s. Copper prices would decline in the decade after the Civil War and much of the activity at Buchanan shifted towards cattle ranching. The last businesses in the community would shutter during World War II and it is now a true ghost town. Part 1; the history of Madera County Road 607 and the Stockton-Los Angeles Road What is now Road 607 was a component of the larger Sto...
Post a Comment
Read more

Old US Route 60/70 through Hell (Chuckwall Valley Road and Ragsdale Road)

By
Back in 2016 I explored some of the derelict roadways of the Sonoran Desert of Riverside County which were part of US Route 60/70; Chuckwalla Valley Road and Ragsdale Road. US 60 and US 70 were not part of the original run of US Routes in California.  According to USends.com US 60 was extended into California by 1932.  US 60 doesn't appear on the California State Highway Map until the 1934 edition. USends.com on US 60 endpoints 1934 State Highway Map Conversely US 70 was extended into California by 1934, it first appears on the 1936 State Highway Map. USends.com on US 70 endpoints 1936 State Highway Map When US 60 and US 70 were extended into California they both utilized what was Legislative Route Number 64 from the Arizona State Line west to Coachella Valley.  LRN 64 was part of the 1919 Third State Highway Bond Act routes.  The original definition of LRN 64 routed between Mecca in Blythe and wasn't extended to the Arizona State Line until 1931 acc...
3 comments
Read more