Between Belle Chasse and Venice, the highway serves as the main road along the west bank of the Mississippi River.

With the exception of the portion running through Port Sulphur, the entire highway is four lanes (although it is not controlled-access).

The highway is a critical hurricane evacuation route for thousands of inhabitants along the west bank of the Mississippi River.

At one time, LA 23 ran straight across the Westbank Expressway (U.S. Highway 90 Business), using Lafayette Street, 5th Street and Huey P. Long Avenue through downtown Gretna and crossing the Jackson Avenue-Gretna Ferry onto Jackson Avenue in New Orleans.

In Plaquemines Parish, sections of the original LA 23, since bypassed, are signed as Parish Road 11 (although some maps erroneously list these routes as LA-11), such as in Jesuit Bend and the area south of Port Sulphur through Empire, Buras, and Fort Jackson.