This is the beginning of Business US 51 North, just south of Ponchatoula at the end of the ramps from I-55/US 51. It is marked in the Louisiana Route Log as “US 51-X.”
Business US 51 North will intersect LA 22 after another block or so at the stoplight ahead.
Left: LA 22 West/Business US 51 North. Straight: NW Railroad Ave. Right: LA 22 East, to Mandeville.
LA 22 West/Business US 51 North continue through Ponchatoula in a short concurrency. Sorry, the sun angle sucked, so I had to go all letterbox with the pic.
This one was better salvaged. Here's something you don't see every day in these parts - a full-service gas station.
Another one I had to go letterbox with to save. Straight: LA 22 West, to Springfield. Signage for the interchange with I-55 can be seen from here. Right: Business US 51 North, to Hammond.
This is the sight that awaits travelers on Business US 51 North as they leave Ponchatoula - a three-lane highway lined by strip malls and the like.
Approaching the interchange with Interstate 12 on Business US 51 Northbound.
Take a left just past the overpass to use I-12 West to Baton Rouge.
Reassurance assembly for Business US 51 North after the interchange with I-12. This part of Business 51 has seen a lot of development in the last decade and a half.
Here, Business US 51 splits onto a one-way couplet of city streets. The Hammond water tower can be seen in the distance.
At the light: Straight - Business US 51 North, to US 190 West. Right - US 190 East, to Covington.
One block past the last pic: Left - US 190 West/Business US 51 North. Straight: Local road, leads to Southeastern Louisiana University.
Begin Business US 51 South, which covers US 51's old alignment through Hammond and Ponchatoula. As the signage indicates, it originates in a concurrency with US 190 East. Mainline US 51 was mostly rerouted to I-55 between the two cities.
US 190/Business US 51 separate here onto a one-way couplet of city streets.
Within downtown Hammond, most of the Business US 51 signage is lacking the “Business” banner. This is no exception, as the sign indicates that US 190 and Business Us 51 are soon to separate.
Straight: US 190 East, to Covington. Right: Business US 51 South, to Ponchatoula.
South on Business US 51 after the concurrency with LA 22, leaving Ponchatoula.
Between LA 22 and the Interstate, there's not a lot to see on Business US 51 southbound. Still, there's a couple of interesting bits, like the sign on the left. The sign reads “Ponchatoula Business & Industrial Park”, but that's not the interesting part. The interesting part is the LP&L logo in the bottom left corner. LP&L (Louisiana Power & Light) was absorbed into Entergy in the 1990s.
Business US 51 junctions I-55 and modern US 51 here. Taking the ramp on the right will put you on I-55/US 51 North.
After crossing over the Interstate on this overpass, Business US 51 defaults onto I-55/US 51 South.
Merging onto I-55/US 51 South, we have reached the southern END! of Business US 51.
