page_title: Great River Road
section_title: Western route
hierarchical_section_title: Great River Road / Route description / Western route
caption_attribution_description: English: This file contains an image of the US five cent postage stamp issued in 1966 commemorating the Great River Road. It will be used for the article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_River_Road
context_page_description: The Great River Road is a collection of state and local roads that follow the course of the Mississippi River through ten states of the United States. They are Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. It formerly extended north into Canada, serving the provinces of Ontario and Manitoba.
  The term "Great River Road" refers both to a series of roadways and to a larger region inside the US and in each state, used for tourism and historic purposes. Some states have designated or identified regions of state interest along the road and use the roads to encompass those regions.
  It is divided into two main sections: the Great River Road and the National Scenic Byway Route. The eponymous segment runs on both sides of the river from Louisiana through the state borders of Kentucky/Illinois and Missouri/Iowa, excepting the full length of the road in Arkansas. A five-state section of the road has been designated a National Scenic Byway, running through Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
  Developed in 1938, the road has a separate commission in each state.
context_section_description: Louisiana
  Few if any signs are present in Louisiana, but the route has been defined by state law. It begins at Venice on the west bank, following LA 23 into Gretna, where the eastern route splits. The western route, historically part of the National Route here, turns west on LA 18, which it follows all the way to Donaldsonville except for a detour on LA 541 from Harvey to Bridge City. A short piece of LA 1 connects the Great River Road to LA 405, which hugs the river to another junction with LA 1 in Plaquemine. LA 988 loops off LA 1 from northern Plaquemine back to yet another junction south of Port Allen, where the route leaves LA 1 again on Oaks Avenue, which becomes LA 987-5 and turns north along the river on River Road. LA 987-4 (Court Street) leads back west to Jefferson Avenue, which the Great River Road follows north to LA 986 along the river and under the Huey P. Long Bridge (US 190), which carries the National Route to the east bank (with access via LA 987-1).
  A state alternate route begins along LA 986, becoming LA 415 near Lobdell and continuing along the river to Hermitage. LA 416 takes the route inland along the False River, an oxbow lake, to LA 1 near Knapp. LA 1 is followed through New Roads to Keller, where LA 15 splits to continue along the river to southwest of Vidalia. LA 131 leads northeast to Vidalia, from which US 425 and US 65 take the Great River Road to Arkansas.
  Arkansas
  The Great River Road enters Arkansas from Louisiana on US 65, which it follows to Dumas. The National Route enters the state on the Benjamin G. Humphreys Bridge (replaced by the Greenville Bridge in 2010), following US 82 to join US 65 near Lake Village. There it turns northeast on US 165, splitting onto Highway 1 in DeWitt until an intersection near Turner. The route follows a sequence of minor state highways: Highway 316 east, Highway 318 south, and Highway 20 east to Elaine, and Highway 44 northeast to Helena. It then uses short segments of Highway 20 and US 49 to reach US 49B into downtown Helena, where it leaves the state highway system, following Columbia, McDonough, and Holly Streets through a residential area. Between Helena and Bear Creek Lake, the Great River Road runs along County Road 239, a partially unpaved roadway hugging the east side of Crowley's Ridge through the St. Francis National Forest. Highway 44 begins again at Bear Creek Lake and takes the route northwest across Crowley's Ridge into Marianna, where it turns north on Poplar Street, west on Chestnut Street, and north on US 79. At Hughes, the Great River Road leaves US 79 and turns east on Highway 38, then north on Highway 147 around the north shore of Horseshoe Lake and on to US 70 at Lehi. US 70 leads east into West Memphis, where the National Route historically crossed the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge. The final leg of Arkansas's Great River Road turns north at West Memphis and uses Highway 77 and US 61 north into Missouri.
  Missouri
  The Great River Road is marked entirely along state-maintained highways in Missouri, with more than half along US 61. Although plates for the National Route are not used in the state, it can be identified based on signage in Illinois.
  A state alternate route enters the state from Arkansas and follows US 61, including two overlaps with I-55, all the way to Perryville. The National Route crosses the Mississippi from Illinois on the Chester Bridge, following Route 51 south to Perryville and then turning north along US 61. At exit 170 south of Festus, the Great River Road joins I-55, following that highway into St. Louis and using I-44 and I-70 to exit 220 on the St. Peters-O'Fallon border. From there the National Route follows the entire length of Route 79 to I-72 in Hannibal, where it crosses the Mark Twain Memorial Bridge back to Illinois. A second state alternate begins in Hannibal by running west on I-72 to its end at US 61, then turning north on US 61. It follows Route 168 to Palmyra, rejoining US 61 for the rest of its path to Iowa, except for the portion through La Grange and Canton, where the Great River Road uses the form
caption: US Post Office stamp issued in 1966.
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