With the advent of the Interstate Highway System, US 71 in Louisiana has been largely superseded by I-49, with most of US 71 running parallel to I-49. US 71 intersects I-49 three times in Louisiana: twice in Alexandria and once near Hosston. Additionally, US 71 briefly overlaps I-20 through Bossier City and Shreveport. The section of US 71 from LA 170 in Gilliam to LA 2 east in Hosston forms part of the Boom or Bust Byway, a Louisiana Scenic Byway.[3]
Route description
US 71 begins at an interchange with US 190 west of Krotz Springs in the Atchafalaya Basin. The highway travels through rural areas of St. Landry Parish, with the only towns along the route being the unincorporated communities of Lebeau and Morrow. US 71 enters Avoyelles Parish just south of LA 1178. The highway enters the town of Bunkie before entering Rapides Parish. US 71 travels through Cheneyville, then intersects US 167 near Lecompte. The two highways run concurrent until reaching I-49 in southern Alexandria, with US 167 leaving US 71 and running concurrent with I-49. Past I-49, US 71 enters the core of Alexandria where it is known locally as MacArthur Drive and runs concurrent with US 167 Bus. until the Lee Street intersection. US 71 continues to travel along MacArthur Drive then reaches Masonic Circle, a large traffic circle, where the highway intersects US 165 and LA 1208-5, with the former beginning an overlap with US 71 here. North of Masonic Circle, the highway becomes a limited-access expressway that features a mix of at-grade intersections and controlled-access interchanges, with the expressway ending at another interchange with I-49, this time near Downtown Alexandria. Passing I-49, US 71 crosses over the Red River on the Curtis Coleman Memorial Bridge into the neighboring city of Pineville. The overlap with US 165 ends near the Pineville Municipal Airport, with US 71 passing by the Alexandria VA Medical Center and travels through less developed parts of Pineville before reaching US 167 (Pineville Expressway). US 71 briefly overlaps with US 167 once again, this time along the northernmost part of the Pineville Expressway, with the overlap ending near the Timber Trails neighborhood.
Leaving Pineville, the highway's route becomes rural again. In Grant Parish, US 71 bypasses the town of Colfax and directly serves the town of Montgomery, then briefly enters Winn Parish before entering Natchitoches Parish. In Natchitoches Parish, the highway's route is still mostly rural as US 71 travels east of the town of Natchitoches, with the only direct connection to the town being LA 6, with the two highways intersecting one another in Clarence. Also in Clarence, US 71 begins an overlap with US 84, with the two highways running concurrent to Coushatta, where US 84 travels to the town's central business district and US 71 bypassing this area, traveling along Cut-Off Road until reaching US 371, with the two highways sharing a brief concurrency through northern Coushatta that ends at the Coushatta–Edgefield town line. US 71 travels through the southwestern corner of Bienville Parish then crosses the Loggy Bayou, entering Bossier Parish. The highway continues to travel through rural areas until the intersection with LA 612, where US 71 enters Bossier City. Known locally as Barksdale Boulevard, US 71 travels through suburban areas in the southeastern part of the city until intersecting LA 3032, which is also the main gate to Barksdale Air Force Base. The highway continues to pass-by several subdivisions, but features more commercial areas as well until reaching I-20 near the city's downtown area. US 71 then travels concurrent with I-20 as the two highways cross over the Red River, with US 71 leaving I-20 in Downtown Shreveport at LA 1, then begins an overlap with LA 1. In Downtown Shreveport, US 71/LA 1 travel along a pair of one-way streets, with northbound traffic running along Spring Street and southbound traffic on Market Street, before becoming a single two-way street (Market Street) near Cross Bayou. The two highways travel through a mostly industrial area of northern Shreveport until meeting I-220. North of I-220, US 71 travels through an area of Shreveport known as North Highlands, featuring a mix of residential and commercial/retail areas, with the overlap with LA 1 ending near Pine Hill Road at the Shreveport northern city limits. Leaving Shreveport, US 71 travels through rural areas once again, serving the smaller towns of Belcher and Gilliam. North of Gilliam, the highway intersects I-49 for a third time, runs through Hosston, then crosses I-49 for a fourth and final time in Louisiana, though this time without any direct access between the two highways. US 71 then serves the town of Ida before exiting Louisiana into Arkansas.
History
The original southern terminus of US 71 was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at the Baton Rouge-Port Allen Mississippi River ferry. This was also the original western terminus of US 190 which continued east from the ferry landing through Baton Rouge, shortly intersecting US 61. US 71 was routed along the Jefferson Highway (pre-1955 State Route 1) from Baton Rouge north to Clarence (near Natchitoches). From Clarence to Shreveport, a more direct route was chosen than that followed by the Jefferson Highway, and US 71 continued north into Arkansas rather than west into Texas.
The current route of US 71 in Louisiana follows or closely parallels the 1926 alignment north of Lebeau. Between Port Allen and Lebeau, US 71 originally followed present-day LA 76 to Rosedale, LA 77 to Ravenswood, and LA 10 to Lebeau, crossing the Atchafalaya River by ferry at Melville. In 1935, US 190 was extended west onto a newly built section of State Route 7 (the Evangeline Highway) with a bridge across the Atchafalaya River at Krotz Springs. The following year, US 71 was moved onto this route, branching northward to Lebeau from its current southern terminus west of Krotz Springs and bypassing the ferry crossing at Melville. In 1940, US 71 and 190 were moved onto the new Mississippi River Bridge at Baton Rouge, bypassing the ferry crossing there.[4] US 71 was cut back to its current southern terminus west of Krotz Springs in 1951.
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US 190 near Krotz Springs 
US 71 at Arkansas state line
