In light of my poem “998” that I posted earlier today, I decided to see if there was an interesting highway out there numbered “998”. It turns out there is one in Louisiana.

Highway 998 is a short road (under 1 mile long) entirely in the community of Belle Rose. It starts highways 1 and 308, which straddle either side of a canal. It passes through a residential district and then ends after a few blocks, with fields stretching out in the distance beyond.

It is challenging to find any information about Belle Rose, beyond that the population is a little over 1900. It does appear on Google Street View, from which the above image was taken. A virtual walk down 998 reveals sparsely distributed modest homes and a few rundown structures, and a few stores at the intersection with highway 1 before crossing a small bridge to the other end at highway 308. The view reminds of a bit of some of the images from Doug Rickard’s exhibition at Wirtz Gallery this past spring, which also was based on Google Street View images and focused communities that are often overlooked.’

Any readers who may know more direct information about Belle Rose are invited to comment.