Louisiana Revised Statutes & Codes

La. Rev. Stat. § 48:1 (2026)

Terms defined

✓ current as of May 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section LA-LEGlegis.la.gov JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

TITLE 48 ROADS, BRIDGES AND FERRIES

CHAPTER 1. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

AND DEVELOPMENT

PART I. DEFINITIONS

§1. Terms defined

For purposes of this Chapter, the following terms have the meanings ascribed to them by this Section, except where the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(1) "Bicycle facility" means any physical facility provided for the exclusive or semi-exclusive use of bicycles. This includes but is not limited to unmarked shared roadways, marked shared roadways, bicycle lanes, shared use trails, and end of trip facilities.

(2) "Chief engineer" means the chief engineer of the Department of Transportation and Development.

(3) "Construction" means the act, operation, and process of building or fabricating a new facility of the Department of Transportation and Development or any part thereof or of bettering an existing facility.

(4) "Cost accounting" is the method of keeping a joint or related record of the quantity of labor, materials, and other factors, as well as the cost, so that a comparative analysis may be undertaken.

(5) "Department" means the Department of Transportation and Development.

(6) "Extraordinary repairs" means repairs of major character, made necessary by deferred maintenance, unusual action of the elements, or accidents.

(7) "Flight strip" means an elongated area prepared and destined for the landing and take-off of aircraft.

(8) "Freeway" means a highway to which property abutting thereon has no right of access and over which it has no right of light, air, or view.

(9) "Grade separation" means a device which separates two or more intersecting highways or an intersecting highway and railroad so that traffic on each moves on a different level from traffic on the others and passes either over or under traffic on the others.

(10) "Highway" means a public way for vehicular, mounted, and pedestrian traffic, including the entire area dedicated thereto and the bridges, culverts, structures, appurtenances, and features necessary to or associated with its purposes.

(11) "Highway purpose" is any purpose approved by the Legislature of Louisiana to be accomplished by the Department of Transportation and Development upon highways and streets, including relocation of public utility and railroad facilities, and including the purpose of compliance with federal laws, rules, and regulations.

(12) "Limited-access facility" is a highway or street especially designed for through traffic, over, from, or to which owners or occupants of abutting land or other persons have no right or servitude or only a limited right or servitude of access, light, air, or view by reason of the fact that their property abuts thereupon or for any other reason. These highways or streets may be parkways, from which trucks, busses, and other commercial vehicles shall be excluded; or they may be freeways open to use by all customary forms and street and highway traffic.

(13) "Maintenance" is the operation, activity, and continuing process of repairing and preserving an existing highway or any part thereof to keep it at or near its original level or standard of usefulness.

(14) "Project" means a definite undertaking described and established for convenience of administration.

(15) "Public utility" means any business or organization that regularly supplies the public with a commodity or service including electricity, gas, water, telephone, telegraph, radio, television, cable television, drainage, sewerage, and other like services.

(16) "Right of way" means the area dedicated for use as a highway.

(17) "Roadside ditch" means any ditch constructed or maintained by the highway agency having jurisdiction over the highway, contiguous to the shoulder thereof, for the purpose of draining the highway.

(18) "Roadway" means that portion of a highway improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic, exclusive of the berm or shoulder.

(19) "Secretary" means the secretary of the Department of Transportation and Development.

(20) "Shoulder" means the portion of the highway contiguous with the roadway for accommodation for stopped vehicles, for emergency use and for lateral support of base and surface.

(21) "Sight distance" is the distance at which two objects, approaching from opposite directions on a horizontal or vertical curve, first become visible to each other.

(22) "Standby equipment" is equipment used to rotate with service equipment to permit continuance of operations while service equipment is undergoing repairs.

(23) "Women owned business" means a business that is at least fifty-one percent owned by a woman or women, and they shall also control and operate it. "Control" in this context means exercising the power to make policy decisions. "Operate" in this context means being actively involved in the day-to-day management. In determining whether a business is fifty-one percent owned by a woman or women, the percent ownership of the woman or women shall not be diminished because she is part of a community property regime.

Added by Acts 1976, No. 630. Amended by Acts 1977, No. 291, §1; Acts 1987, No. 642, §1; Acts 1987, No. 933, §1; Acts 2006, No. 11, §5; Acts 2010, No. 618, §3, eff. August 15, 2010; Acts 2011, No. 175, §1, eff. June 24, 2011; Acts 2025, No. 380, §3, eff. August 1, 2025.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 53 cases, 1955–2018 · leading case: Capone v. Ormet Corp., 822 So. 2d 684 (La. Ct. App. 2002).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Capone v. Ormet Corp., 822 So. 2d 684 (La. Ct. App. 2002). · cites it 14× “R.S. 48:1(11) defines a highway as "a public way for vehicular, mounted, and pedestrian traffic, including the entire area dedicated thereto and the bridges, culverts, structures, appurtenances, and features necessary to or associated with its purposes.”

Holloway v. State, Dept. of Trans., 555 So. 2d 1341 (La. 1990). · cites it 3× “R.S. 48:1(11). "`Roadway' means that portion of a highway improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic, exclusive of the berm or shoulder.”

Watson v. Morrison, 340 So. 2d 588 (La. Ct. App. 1977). · cites it 2× “R.S. 48:1(11) as follows: "`Highway' means a public way for vehicular, mounted, and pedestrian traffic, including the entire area dedicated thereto and the bridges, culverts, structures, appurtenances, and features necessary to or associated with its purposes.”

Rue v. State, Dept. of Highways, 372 So. 2d 1197 (La. 1979). “LSA-R.S. 48:1(11)(13), Pickering v. Washington, 260 So.”

Myers v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 493 So. 2d 1170 (La. 1986). “R.S. 48:1(20)-(21), the legislature has defined "roadway" and "shoulder.”

Everett v. Louisiana Dept. of Transp., Etc., 424 So. 2d 336 (La. Ct. App. 1982). · cites it 2× “-R.S. 48:1(11). "Shoulder" is defined as that portion of the highway contiguous with the roadway for accommodation for stopped vehicles, emergency use, and lateral support of base and surface.”

Sumner v. Sumner, 664 So. 2d 718 (La. Ct. App. 1995). · cites it 2× “R.S. 48:1(21) states, in pertinent part, that the shoulder portion of the highway is provided to accommodate "stopped vehicles, [and] for emergency use.”

Kyle v. City of Bogalusa, 506 So. 2d 719 (La. Ct. App. 1987). · cites it 2× “R.S. 48:1(11), (20), (21) and (22), the legislature has defined the following terms which are applicable in the instant case: (11) `Highway' means a public way for vehicular, mounted, and pedestrian traffic, including the entire area dedicated thereto and the bridges, culverts,…”

Tugwell v. Members of the Bd. of Highways, 83 So. 2d 893 (La. 1955). · cites it 2× “4 of 1942, LSA-R.S. 48:1 to 48:424, particularly Section 22, and it was specifically recognized and continued in the statute presently under consideration, Section 1 of Act No.”

State Ex Rel. Dep't of Highways v. Bradford, 141 So. 2d 378 (La. 1962). · cites it 2× “32:1(8); LSA-R.S. 45:162(8). Under Title 48 of the Revised Statutes, in which the Declaration of Taking Statute appears, "`Highway' means a public way for vehicular, mounted, and pedestrian traffic, including the entire area dedicated thereto and the bridges, culverts,…”

Perez v. State, Through DOTD, 578 So. 2d 1199 (La. Ct. App. 1991). “R.S. 48:1(20). Yet there are many Louisiana roads that have narrow shoulders which cannot accommodate a vehicle.”

Wilkinson v. Town of Baker, 506 So. 2d 739 (La. Ct. App. 1987). · cites it 2× “R.S. 48:1(11), (20), (21) and (22), the legislature has defined the following terms which are applicable in the instant case: (11) `Highway' means a public way for vehicular, mounted, and pedestrian traffic, including the entire area dedicated thereto and the bridges, culverts,…”

Show all 53 citing cases →

— La. Rev. Stat. § 48:1(11) — 26 cases

State Ex Rel. Dep't of Highways v. Bradford, 141 So. 2d 378 (La. 1962). “32:1(8); LSA-R.S. 45:162(8). Under Title 48 of the Revised Statutes, in which the Declaration of Taking Statute appears, "`Highway' means a public way for vehicular, mounted, and pedestrian traffic, including the entire area dedicated thereto and the bridges, culverts,…”

Watson v. Morrison, 340 So. 2d 588 (La. Ct. App. 1977). “R.S. 48:1(11) as follows: "`Highway' means a public way for vehicular, mounted, and pedestrian traffic, including the entire area dedicated thereto and the bridges, culverts, structures, appurtenances, and features necessary to or associated with its purposes.”

Robertson v. Handy, 354 So. 2d 626 (La. Ct. App. 1978).

Capone v. Ormet Corp., 822 So. 2d 684 (La. Ct. App. 2002). “R.S. 48:1(11) defines a highway as "a public way for vehicular, mounted, and pedestrian traffic, including the entire area dedicated thereto and the bridges, culverts, structures, appurtenances, and features necessary to or associated with its purposes.”

Everett v. Louisiana Dept. of Transp., Etc., 424 So. 2d 336 (La. Ct. App. 1982). “-R.S. 48:1(11). "Shoulder" is defined as that portion of the highway contiguous with the roadway for accommodation for stopped vehicles, emergency use, and lateral support of base and surface.”

— La. Rev. Stat. § 48:1(11)(13) — 1 case

Rue v. State, Dept. of Highways, 372 So. 2d 1197 (La. 1979). “LSA-R.S. 48:1(11)(13), Pickering v. Washington, 260 So.”

— La. Rev. Stat. § 48:1(11)(20)(21) — 1 case

Wilkinson v. Town of Baker, 506 So. 2d 739 (La. Ct. App. 1987). “R.S. 48:1(11), (20), (21) and (22), the legislature has defined the following terms which are applicable in the instant case: (11) `Highway' means a public way for vehicular, mounted, and pedestrian traffic, including the entire area dedicated thereto and the bridges, culverts,…”

— La. Rev. Stat. § 48:1(12) — 3 cases

State ex rel. Dep't of Highways v. Hub Realty Co., 118 So. 2d 364 (La. 1960).

Mills v. State Through Dept. of Highways, 416 So. 2d 957 (La. Ct. App. 1982).

Lambert Dev. Co. v. State, 482 So. 2d 859 (La. Ct. App. 1986).

— La. Rev. Stat. § 48:1(13) — 3 cases

Willis v. State Ex Rel. Louisiana Dept. of Highways, 321 So. 2d 819 (La. Ct. App. 1976).

Hopkins v. State ex rel. Dep't of Highways, 167 So. 2d 441 (La. Ct. App. 1964).

— La. Rev. Stat. § 48:1(15) — 1 case

— La. Rev. Stat. § 48:1(17) — 1 case

Sonnier v. State, 249 So. 3d 51 (La. Ct. App. 2018).

— La. Rev. Stat. § 48:1(20) — 6 cases

Myers v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 493 So. 2d 1170 (La. 1986). “R.S. 48:1(20)-(21), the legislature has defined "roadway" and "shoulder.”

Perez v. State, Through DOTD, 578 So. 2d 1199 (La. Ct. App. 1991). “R.S. 48:1(20). Yet there are many Louisiana roads that have narrow shoulders which cannot accommodate a vehicle.”

Moon v. City of Baton Rouge, 522 So. 2d 117 (La. Ct. App. 1988).

Holloway v. State, Dept. of Trans., 555 So. 2d 1341 (La. 1990). “R.S. 48:1(11). "`Roadway' means that portion of a highway improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic, exclusive of the berm or shoulder.”

— La. Rev. Stat. § 48:1(21) — 11 cases

Sumner v. Sumner, 664 So. 2d 718 (La. Ct. App. 1995). “R.S. 48:1(21) states, in pertinent part, that the shoulder portion of the highway is provided to accommodate "stopped vehicles, [and] for emergency use.”

Kyle v. City of Bogalusa, 506 So. 2d 719 (La. Ct. App. 1987). “R.S. 48:1(11), (20), (21) and (22), the legislature has defined the following terms which are applicable in the instant case: (11) `Highway' means a public way for vehicular, mounted, and pedestrian traffic, including the entire area dedicated thereto and the bridges, culverts,…”

— La. Rev. Stat. § 48:1(22) — 5 cases

Hebert v. Sw. La. Elec. Mem. Corp., 667 So. 2d 1148 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

Shilling ex rel. Shilling v. State ex rel. Dep't of Transp. & Dev., 928 So. 2d 95 (La. Ct. App. 2005).

Voelkel v. State, 671 So. 2d 478 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

Shilling v. State Ex Rel. Dot, 928 So. 2d 95 (La. Ct. App. 2005).

— La. Rev. Stat. § 48:1(9) — 2 cases

Adam v. State ex rel. Dep't of Transp. & Dev., 5 So. 3d 941 (La. Ct. App. 2009).

Adam v. State Ex Rel. Dotd, 5 So. 3d 941 (La. Ct. App. 2009).

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.