Loreauville Road connects New Iberia and Loreauville
Connecting two local municipalities, Loreauville Road stands as one of the most important roads in the Teche Area.
At 16.42 miles, Loreauville Road is also known as La. 86, starts in New Iberia eventually connecting to a village sharing the road’s name — Loreauville.
Loreauville Road got its name based on the road ends and connects to one of the oldest villages in New Iberia in Loreauville.
Loreauville was initially called “Fausse Pointe”, then “Dugasville” after the Dugas family, who opened a trading post at the site. The name was changed to “Picouville” when a Picou family member donated land to build a chapel.
On April 15, 1871, the name was changed from Picouville to Loreauville for Ozaire Loreau, who had contributed the property for the old Catholic church and cemetery, and had also aided in the agricultural, industrial and political growth of the village.
A long, winding road
From the south, La. 86 begins at an intersection with La. 182 in New Iberia. La. 182 follows the one-way couplet of Main and St. Peter Streets through the city’s Historic Commercial District. La. 86 begins as Julia Street for one block through the couplet then makes a zigzag onto Main Street for half a block.
The route turns northeast on Bridge Street and crosses a bascule bridge over Bayou Teche, which flows through the center of town. After becoming Duperier Avenue, La. 86 proceeds through a residential neighborhood and intersects LA 87 at Oak Street. La. 87 parallels the route of La. 182 on the opposite bank of Bayou Teche toward Jeanerette. After several blocks, La. 86 turns eastward, becoming the Loreauville Road and parallels the bayou to the east end of New Iberia.
A road’s history
In the original Louisiana Highway system in use between 1921 and 1955, the modern La. 86 was part of two separate routes: Northern section, the remainder of the present route of La. 86 from Loreauville to the north side of New Iberia was generally designated as State Route 446 in the pre-1955 system. Route 446 was added to the state highway system in 1928 by an act of the state legislature.
And Southern section: The section from the southern terminus to the present intersection with La. 3242 in Loreauville made up the majority of State Route 56. It was designated in 1921 by an act of the state legislature as one of the original 98 state highway routes.