Pointe à la Hache ferry: the parish's downriver crossing, daylight only and capped at 50 feet

Below New Orleans, Plaquemines Parish is split lengthwise by the Mississippi, with communities strung along each bank and no bridge between them. Two public ferries join the halves, both run by Louisiana Gateway Port. The upper one runs at Belle Chasse, close to the New Orleans suburbs. The lower one crosses here, between a ramp on Capone Lane at Pointe à la Hache on the east bank and a landing in the Port Sulphur area on the west, the place the federal ferry census lists as West Pointe à la Hache.

The east side of the river at this point is where the parish's government business happens: the Plaquemines Parish Council holds its meetings, including those as the port's governing board, in the council chambers on Highway 15 at Pointe à la Hache. Across the water the west ramp has a Port Sulphur postal address, and the port names the route after that town.

Everything about this crossing is smaller than at Belle Chasse. The day ends before six, the weekend timetable thins out after 8 a.m., and the port caps vehicles at 50 feet including anything towed. The rules on who pays, by contrast, are identical across the parish: $2 for a non-resident's vehicle and nothing for residents, seniors, cyclists or people on foot.

Thirty-minute steps on weekdays, a looser beat at weekends

Weekday and weekend/holiday tables as published by Louisiana Gateway Port, undated; read twice, with the service status, on October 13, 2026   Louisiana Gateway Port — Plaquemines Parish Ferry Schedule · 2026-10-13

The same $2 toll as upriver, and the same list of riders who pay nothing

Tolls are uniform across the parish system, so this one matches the one upriver. A vehicle driven by a non-resident pays $2 per crossing, in exact change, and the price is the same for a motorcycle, a sedan or a truck hauling a bass boat. Drivers whose license or vehicle registration carries a Plaquemines address are exempt, and so are people aged 65 and over, holders of government-issued disability ID and badge-carrying employees of the parish school board, government, fire district, port and sheriff's office. On foot or on a bicycle, everyone rides free.

The port also wants a ticket for every non-resident passenger from the age of four riding in a car, though it never states what that ticket costs.

Toll in force since June 17, 2024; checked October 13, 2026   Louisiana Gateway Port — Fare & Ticketing; Plaquemines Parish — Ferry Tolls · 2026-10-13

Capone Lane on the east bank, a plus code on the west

A five-minute hop across the lower Mississippi

Facing each other across the river, the ramps are close enough that the boat spends barely five minutes under way on each leg. In the weekday cycle that leaves some ten minutes at either bank to load and unload before the next departure.

If you are comparing paid river crossings, few cost less than this one. Far upstream, the crossing between Ste. Genevieve and Modoc on the Missouri–Illinois line asks $20 for a car and charges residents and visitors alike.

Before driving down to the landing

• Measure anything you tow

  The port's limit for this crossing is 50 feet of total length. The parish gives 40 feet for the M/V Belle Chasse II, and the port's own pages now name that vessel on this route, so call (504) 635-3115 before bringing a rig between 40 and 50 feet.

• Read the status board

  The port's status board on October 13, 2026 listed no advisories and both of its named vessels as operating normally.

• No evening boat

  Service runs from 6:30 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. every day. If you need to cross later, the half-hourly boat at Belle Chasse runs into the night.

• Exact change or proof of address

  Non-residents need $2 in exact change. Residents should keep handy the document that proves a parish address.

• Get the alerts

  Notices reach subscribers by email and appear in the port's mobile app; Plaquemines Parish also reposts them in its online Alert Center.

A landing shut by the state, a boat lent upriver, and work still pending

For much of summer 2026 the crossing was out of action. The crossing's regular boat broke down on May 14 and was sailing again by late morning the next day; it failed once more on June 15 and resumed on June 16. That afternoon the parish announced that from 11 a.m. on June 17 the state transportation department, LADOTD, would close both landings, east and west, citing safety concerns found in recent inspections of the landing infrastructure. The boat was moved upriver to stand in at Belle Chasse–Scarsdale, and service here only restarted on the morning of Monday, August 3.

Two weeks later a new notice warned of a pause from 9 a.m. on August 20 for a routine inspection of the vessel, and no follow-up appeared on the parish Alert Center. In March the port's board had already introduced an ordinance to award a contract for electrical upgrades to the landing barges at Pointe à la Hache, together with a resolution for an agreement with the state on a dry-dock project for that same boat. Between ageing landings and a single boat, this is a crossing to check before every trip.

Two boat names attached to one crossing

What drivers check before using the Pointe à la Hache boat