Skip to main content

Belle Chasse-Scarsdale Ferry (Belle Chasse, LA)

The southernmost reaches of the Mississippi River downriver from greater New Orleans can only be crossed by way of remote & lightly-trafficked ferries and this service, which connects the communities of Belle Chasse and Scarsdale in northern Plaquemines Parish, is the northernmost of the two cross-river ferries in Louisiana’s southernmost parish. Like its neighboring ferries, this crossing requires the payment of a toll and ferries depart from each landing every 30 minutes on most days.

A commercial ferry service was established at this location in 1959. Since 2013, the ferry has been the southernmost crossing of the Mississippi River open to most commercial vehicles. These vehicles were barred indefinitely from the downriver Pointe à la Hache Ferry at the time and this ferry crossing took on somewhat greater importance as a result. The eastern ferry landing leads to LA Highway 39, which follows the east bank of the river southward toward Pointe à la Hache and northward toward St. Bernard Parish and greater New Orleans. LA Highway 3137, known as English Turn Road – a former alignment of the east bank highway, also begins at the eastern landing and follows the river for a short distance northward. The western ferry landing leads to LA Highway 23 (sometimes known as Belle Chasse Highway), which follows the west bank of the river northward into greater New Orleans and southward toward Venice and the mouth of the Mississippi River.

This ferry route is located near a popular anchorage point for ocean-going vessels seeking to travel upriver on the Mississippi River through and beyond New Orleans. On any given day, travelers on the ferry will be able to view the line of anchored ships in the river awaiting passage to their destinations inland. This ferry is also located near the so-called “English Turn”, a prominent 120-degree bend in the Mississippi River, named for a chance encounter in 1699 between the initial French explorers to the area and a competing British exploration party. The French party, led by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, who would go on to establish the permanent settlement of New Orleans in 1718, were successful in convincing the British party to abandon their exploration of the area out of concern that their French rivals had already laid claim to the area.

The following pictures were taken during my eastbound crossing of the Belle Chasse Ferry in January 2018. Included in this set are pictures of English Turn Road (LA Highway 3137). Click on each photo to see a larger version.

Dashcam video of the eastbound trip over the Belle Chasse Ferry was filmed in January 2018 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: Chalmette-Lower Algiers Ferry (Chalmette, LA)
Next Crossing downriver: Pointe a la Hache Ferry (Pointe a la Hache, LA)
Return to the Bridges of the Lower Mississippi River Home Page
__________________________________________________

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ghost Town Tuesday; Mannfield, FL and the stairway to Hell

Back in 2015 I went searching the Lecanto Sand Hills for the original Citrus County Seat known as Mannfield.  Unlike Centrailia in Hernando County and Fivay in Pasco County I did find something worth seeing. Mannfield is located in the Lecanto Sand Hill section of Withlacoochee State Forest somewhat east of the intersection of Citrus County Route 491 and Mansfield Road. Mannfield was named after Austin Mann and founded in Hernando County in 1884 before Citrus County Split away.  In 1887 Citrus County was split from northern Hernando County while Pasco County was spun off to the south.  Mannfield was selected as the new Citrus County seat due to it being near the county geographic center.  Reportedly Mannfield had as many as 250 people when it was the County Seat.  The town included various businesses one might include at the time, even a sawmill which was common for the area.  In 1891 Citrus County voted to move it's seat to Inverness which set the s...

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...

The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and temporary Hawaii Route 11

The 1959 Gousha Road map of Hawaii features two largely unknown references in the form of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11.  Both corridors are shown running from the boundary of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park east to Glenwood via Volcano Village.  At the time Hawaii Route 11 was using the so-called "Volcano Road" which was constructed as a modernization of Mamalahoa Highway during 1927-1928.  This blog will examine the two map references and will attempt to determine what they might indicate.  The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11 Hawaii Route 11 is part of Mamalahoa Highway (the Hawaii Belt Road) and is the longest Hawaiian State Route at 121.97 miles.  The highway begins at the mutual junction of Hawaii Route 19 and Hawaii Route 190 in Kailua-Kona.  From Kailua-Kona the routing of Hawaii Route 11 crosses the volcanic landscapes of southern side of the Big Island.  Hawaii Route 11 terminates at Hawaii Route 19/Ka...