Abandoned Louisiana: Oasis 24 Hour Truck Stop, Lamourie

Monday, July 12, 2021

Abandoned Louisiana: Oasis 24 Hour Truck Stop, Lamourie

Located just south of LSUA on old highway US 71 is a testament to the downfall of small-town America. The old Oasis 24 Hour Truck Stop is abandoned now, but in a time not all that long a go it served cross-country truck drivers and travelers alike by providing both food, fuel and place to go to the bathroom.

I took some time to see if I could find out any information about the old truck stop online to no avail, but honestly I really didn't need to find out anything more than what I already could deduce on my own. The Oasis had suffered the same fate as literally thousands of businesses around the country in the 1970s when the Interstate Highway system was built. As these new highways were constructed small towns all across America all but dried up overnight.

As a rule interstate highways bypassed the towns that the old state highways serviced. The multitude of gas stations, restaurants, and inexpensive motels that thrived on cross-country travel and commerce now found themselves out of customers who were zipping past their town at a blazing 55 miles an hour.

This is the story that played out here. The Oasis is on Highway 71, which at one time was the main highway that connected Baton Rouge and Shreveport via nearby Alexandria. If you traveled between two of the regions larger cities you had to pass right by The Oasis. Such is not the case anymore as Interstate Highway 49 was constructed five miles to the west. Travelers and Truckers that are making the journey from north to south (and vice-versa) never come anywhere close to it anymore.

So, due to the decline in customers, The Oasis was forced to close it's doors forever.

Sadly this abandoned truck stop is not alone. Similar businesses along the 71 in the nearby, and once prosperous, towns of Lecompte, Cheneyville and Bunkie are abandoned testimonials to what small-town America used to be. They are all but ghost towns now.

The tale of what happened when the I49 replaced the US 71 is also not a phenomena that was exclusive to Central Louisiana. It literally happened all over the nation. The most famous example of this occurred when Interstate 40 was built to replace the famous Route 66 across the American Southwest spanning from Texas through New Mexico and Arizona eventually terminating in California. That highway project decimated the famous tourist destinations of Gallup (New Mexico), Winslow (Arizona) and Barstow (California) just to name a few.