The highway initially followed little of its current route, traveling more closely along the Mississippi River southward from Gardere to a different terminus at Darrow.

[2][3][4] South of the downtown area, LA 30 cuts through the campus of Louisiana State University and passes closely by Tiger Stadium.

Shortly afterward, the highway begins to follow alongside the Canadian National Railway (CN) line while passing Alex Box Stadium/Skip Bertman Field.

LA 30 curves southeast away from the CN rail line and proceeds through a small industrial corridor before crossing out of St. Gabriel and into unincorporated Ascension Parish.

It then narrows to two lanes once more and passes through scattered residential development until reaching its terminus at US 61 (Airline Highway) in an area known as Brittany.

[2] The portion of LA 30 from Downtown Baton Rouge to the LSU campus serves as a small link in the Great River Road, which is designated as a National Scenic Byway.

In 1937, the first section of Nicholson Drive was completed, running parallel to Highland Road from South Boulevard to LSU's Tiger Stadium.

[16] The remainder of Route 63 likewise followed older, parallel roadways to the modern LA 30 until reaching Ascension Parish, where it proceeded to a very different terminus.

South of LSU, Route 63 turned southwest from Highland Road onto Gardere Lane (now LA 327 Spur) to the Mississippi River.

This junction was initially located at Florida Boulevard and Acadian Thruway[17] but was moved several blocks west in 1957 when the business route was re-routed onto the first completed portion of the Baton Rouge Expressway (now I-110).

The current terminus at Government Street was put into effect in recent years when this portion of River Road was transferred to the city of Baton Rouge.

This alignment was formerly labeled on the official state highway maps as Arlington Road but is now signed throughout East Baton Rouge Parish as part of Nicholson Drive.

The old alignment following Highland Road became part of LA 42 until that designation was moved onto the newly constructed Burbank Drive in the 1990s.

The project was designed to facilitate access to nearby parking garages and improve the connection between the downtown area and the LSU campus.

[1] La DOTD is currently engaged in a program that aims to transfer about 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of state-owned roadways to local governments over the next several years.

[33] Under this plan of "right-sizing" the state highway system, the northwestern portion of LA 30 between Baton Rouge and Gardere is proposed for deletion as it no longer meets a significant interurban travel function.

[32] Both the spur and the entirety of its parent route within the Baton Rouge city limits are under an agreement to be transferred to local control as of January 2017.