Shreveport, Louisiana

Shreveport, Louisiana, is the third largest city and the third largest metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the seat of Caddo Parish. As of 2004, the city's population given by the U.S. Census Bureau was 198,675, a decline from the 2000 census levels. Bossier City lies across the Red River in Bossier Parish and the Shreveport-Bossier City Metropolitan Area population exceeds 375,000.

Shreveport is the commercial and cultural center of the Ark-La-Tex, the area where Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas meet. Some call it the "Gateway to East Texas;" others claim that Shreveport sits on the border between the South and the West. The city exercises a great pull over this region. A good example of this is that people in East Texas watch and donate money to the Louisiana Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) because no PBS station exists in northeast Texas. Many people in the community refer to the two cities of Shreveport and Bossier City, which are separated only by the Red River, as "Shreveport-Bossier". In fact, they share an af2 arena football team, the Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings, as well as a Central Hockey League team, the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs. The area is the intersection of three Interstate Highways: I-20, I-49, I-220 (loop). Shreveport is also the proposed hub for I-69 (NAFTA Highway) connecting the area to Houston, Texas, and Memphis, Tennessee.