The route serves as a commercial thoroughfare in Bossier City, running along Barksdale Boulevard from a point just east of the old downtown area situated near the Red River.

Shortly afterward, LA 72 crosses the Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS) tracks at grade and passes underneath I-20.

When US 80 was re-routed through Bossier City onto Texas Street and the new Long-Allen Bridge in 1934, the former alignment became Route 4-D until the 1955 Louisiana Highway renumbering.

)[15][16] The Traffic Street connector was returned to local control in the 2000s,[3][17] followed by the portion of Barksdale Boulevard west of Hamilton Road in 2016,[1] giving LA 72 its current western terminus.

[18] 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.

[19] Under this plan of "right-sizing" the state highway system, the entirety of LA 72 is proposed for deletion as it no longer meets a significant interurban travel function.