page_title: Interstate 12
section_title: Route description
hierarchical_section_title: Interstate 12 / Route description
caption_attribution_description: English: LA 1249 exit sign on I-12 eastbound
context_page_description: Interstate 12 is an Interstate Highway located entirely within the U.S. state of Louisiana. It spans a total of 86.65 miles in an east–west direction from I-10 in Baton Rouge to an interchange with both I-10 and I-59 in Slidell. Along the way, it passes through the city of Hammond, where it intersects I-55 and US 51. It also serves the smaller cities of Denham Springs and Ponchatoula, as well as the St. Tammany Parish cities of Covington and Mandeville. Skirting the northern shore of Lake Pontchartrain, I-12 serves as a northern bypass of the New Orleans metropolitan area and as an alternate route for I-10, which serves the city of New Orleans itself.
  I-12 parallels the older US 190 corridor and traverses the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain in the southeastern portion of the state. The interstate's length is short for a mainline interstate and is comparable with the country's longest auxiliary interstates. It is one of the shortest mainline interstates to terminate at the same route at either end. Apart from serving the various communities of the North Shore, I-12 acts as a long bypass of New Orleans and is heavily used as a shortcut for through traffic on I-10.
caption: I-12's eastbound exit to LA 1249, which leads to the communities of Baptist and Pumpkin Center
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