Louisiana Highway 59

From the south, LA 59 begins at an intersection with US 190 (Florida Street) along the northern edge of the city of Mandeville. US 190 is the main highway through town and connects to the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, a toll bridge to New Orleans. LA 59 proceeds northeast on Girod Street as an undivided two-lane highway with a center turning lane. Though technically outside the Mandeville city limits, the area continues the city's grid pattern and residential development ensconced within a pine forest. This trend continues for to an intersection with LA 1088, a lateral highway connecting Mandeville with I-12 on the east side of town. LA 59 continues northeast through an area of mixed rural and newer residential development and turns due north later. After passing the entrances to several sprawling school campuses, LA 59 goes through a diamond interchange with I-12, which connects to Hammond on the west and Slidell on the east. North of I-12, the surroundings change from residential to an area featuring several small industrial parks as well as the St. Tammany Parish Administrative Complex. After , LA 59 makes a curve while crossing the Tammany Trace bike trail, located along a former railroad right-of-way. The highway resumes its regular course and, later, enters the small town of Abita Springs at an intersection with Harrison Avenue, a local road. Average daily traffic volume in 2013 is reported as 17,600 vehicles between Mandeville and Abita Springs, slightly decreasing to 16,000 within Abita Springs. The section north of Abita Springs has a much lower count of 5,300 vehicles. The posted speed limit is in Mandeville, increasing to between Mandeville and Abita Springs. It then decreases to in Abita Springs before becoming through the rural section north to LA 21. ==History==

In the original Louisiana Highway system in use between 1921 and 1955, the modern LA 59 was part of two separate state highways. State Route 114 followed the route from the southern terminus to Abita Springs, where it turned east and continued along the present LA 36 toward Hickory. The remainder of LA 59 north of Abita Springs was formerly State Route 190. Both routes were designated by an act of the state legislature in 1928 and existed until the 1955 Louisiana Highway renumbering. LA 59 was created in the 1955 renumbering following the north–south portion of former State Route 114 combined with the entirety of former State Route 190. The route of LA 59 has remained the same to the present day. In August 2007, the main junction in Abita Springs, previously governed by a traffic signal, was converted to a roundabout by the state highway department. The roundabout, only the second to be constructed on a state highway in Louisiana, was designed to reduce traffic congestion at the busy intersection and improve the flow of truck traffic. ==Future==

La DOTD is currently engaged in a program that aims to transfer about of state-owned roadways to local governments over the next several years. Under this plan of "right-sizing" the state highway system, the entire route of LA 59 (with the exception of the short concurrency with LA 36) is proposed for deletion as it no longer meets a significant interurban travel function. ==Major intersections==