Louisiana Highway 38

LA 38 is classified by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (La DOTD) as a rural major collector, except for the portion east of Clifton, which is a rural minor collector.[7] Daily traffic volume in 2013 peaked at 7,000 vehicles in Kentwood and tapered to less than 2,000 vehicles at either end of the route.[7] The posted speed limit is 55 mph (90 km/h) for most of the route but is reduced to 35 mph (55 km/h) within Kentwood and Mount Hermon.[2]

The Louisiana Highway Commission and the state's first system of numbered highways were authorized by an act of the Louisiana Legislature in 1921. At that time, the majority of the modern LA 38 extending from Chipola in St. Helena Parish to Clifton in Washington Parish was designated as State Route 71.[11] As its official description indicates, Route 71 also turned south at Clifton and overlapped what is now LA 25 into Franklinton. However, this overlap was eliminated sometime after 1937.[10][12]

Route 71. Beginning at Chipola, through Kentwood, Mt. Hermon, Clifton to Franklinton.

— 1921 legislative route description[11]

By 1927, the entirety of Route 71 had been improved with a gravel surface.[13] Paving of the route was fragmentary and began in the late 1940s. The portion between the Tangipahoa River and the Washington Parish line was completed in 1949, along with two small segments through Mount Hermon and Clifton.[14][15] In 1951, paving was completed through Kentwood and continuously to Mount Hermon.[15][16] In 1953, paving was extended west from Kentwood to Easleyville and east from Mount Hermon to Clifton.[16][17] The remainder of Route 71 in St. Helena Parish was improved after the 1955 Louisiana Highway renumbering.

The western and eastern ends of the modern LA 38 have a convoluted history due to the early practices of highway numbering in Louisiana. The western portion between Coleman Town and Chipola, connecting the route to what is now LA 10, was added to the state highway system in 1928. However, it was not made an extension of Route 71 but was instead given a different number, State Route 290.[18] Two years later, this road segment was overlapped by a longer north–south route designated as State Route 1223,[19] and the now redundant designation of Route 290 was eventually dropped.[8][20] Meanwhile, the eastern segment of the modern LA 38 extending from Clifton to south of Hackley was originally part of State Route 262, another addition to the system in 1928.[18] Its route description had an anomaly that gave it two branches extending from Hackley: one to Clifton and another to Franklinton. To distinguish the two, the Hackley–Clifton branch was given a "-D" suffix during the 1930s.[12][21] Both segments of LA 38 not part of the former Route 71 remained gravel surfaced throughout their existence.[8][10]

The above highway segments were joined together under the single designation of LA 38 when the Louisiana Department of Highways, the successor to the Highway Commission, renumbered the state highway system in 1955.[22]

Class "B": La 38—From a junction with La 10 at or near Chipola through or near Kentwood and Mt. Hermon to a junction with La 25 at or near Clifton.
Class "C": La 38—From a junction with La 25 at or near Clifton northeasterly to a junction with La 430 south of Hackley.

— 1955 legislative route description[22]

With the 1955 renumbering, the state highway department initially categorized all routes into three classes: "A" (primary), "B" (secondary), and "C" (farm-to-market).[23] This system has since been updated and replaced by a more specific functional classification system.

Within five years of the renumbering, the last two segments of gravel roadway in St. Helena Parish were eliminated. Paving was completed between Coleman Town and Chipola in 1956[24][25] and extended east to Easleyville by 1960.[26][27] The only change to the route of LA 38 since its creation involved the elimination of a zigzag at the Illinois Central Railroad (now Canadian National Railway) crossing in Kentwood. The original alignment turned north from Avenue G onto 1st Street then east onto Avenue F and proceeded across the rail line.[28] In the 1970s, Avenue G was extended directly across the rail line. The older railroad crossing remains in use as a local road and serves the Kentwood Co-op facility.[2]