ACA has designed a 117-mile detour to avoid the condemned bridge. It begins near Slidell, LA and ends in Pass Christian, MS. It crosses the Pearl River in Bogalusa. The highways in Louisiana generally have good shoulders, but the highways in Mississippi have narrow to non-existent shoulders. We tried to use backroads as much as possible.
See maps of the detour below. The RideWithGPS maps include services along the detour.
Eastbound:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/40912203Westbound:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/40941288If you have already purchased the Southern Tier digital data (gpx files) from us, you can access this new detour for free by logging into your MyAdventureCycling account, navigating to your Purchased GPS Map Files, and clicking "Download" to receive the updated gpx data package. There are no services for the detour included in the gpx package.
If you have already purchased the Southern Tier in the Bicycle Route Navigator app, you can access this new detour for free by selecting Menu>Settings>Download New Map Versions. There are no services included for the detour in the app.
If you would rather ride the old 2019 Southern Tier routing (direct from New Roads, LA to Bogalusa, LA, skipping New Orleans, 125 miles), you can find maps of that routing below. Be aware that we did discontinue this routing in 2021 because of issues with limited/poor services, poor road surfaces, and dogs. This old routing connects to the detour described above in Bogalusa, which then connects to Pass Christian and back to the existing main Southern Tier Route.
Eastbound:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/40945023Westbound:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/40945038