re: Anyone know how Louisiana defines "Main traveled portion of roadway" and "passing"

What would have happened if the guy you "didn't pass" was legally waiting for his opportunity to make the same turn, and when you were almost even with him he made his turn not seeing you in his passenger side blind spot causing a collision? Who would be at fault?

Pay that shite and move on.

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What would have happened if the guy you "didn't pass" was legally waiting for his opportunity to make the same turn,

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Then he would have no reason to stop where he did and there was no turn signal. Why would he stop on Main if he was turning down Westside?

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You can’t drive on the shoulder.

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The charge is passing on the shoulder

That’s semantics.

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isn't a solid white line ok to cross?

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No. Solid lines mean "don't cross, stupid". Dashed lines mean "cross if it is safe". White lines mean traffic on the other side of the line is moving the same direction you are. Yellow lines mean traffic on the other side of the line is moving opposite you.

ETA: That said, as Boat points out below, I didn't tell the whole truth. While solid lines mean "don't cross", it is permissible to cross solid white lines with extreme caution. Which, in Baton Rouge, means "Swerve from the College off-ramp across two solid white lines, a cross-hatched area, and three lanes of traffic to get into the far left lane". Also, we gonna ignore the short dashed lines which usually mean "lane ending, merge now dummy"?

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No. Solid lines mean "don't cross, stupid".

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You can cross a solid white line. Just proceed with caution and only do it if you really have to.

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You can cross a solid white line. Just proceed with caution and only do it if you really have to.

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I did proceed with caution and I really had to.

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Here is a current picture. Notice there is a solid white line continuing through the turning lane So legally I guess nobody should be turning here AMIRITE?

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You're trying to win on an irrelevant (to the situation) technicality. It may work. It's worked for me before. Just make sure you steer your argument that direction because the judge or officer may continually try to push you towards the fact that you were driving on the shoulder to get to that turning lane.

Ignorant Louisiana, unlike Texas, doesn't allow driving on the shoulder for the purposes of making a right hand turn. Title 32 views shoulders only as emergency lanes, so unless your passing was an emergency, it's illegal to pass in the emergency lane.

Louisiana really needs to address this at the state level because it's so much more efficient for traffic flow for people who are taking a right to be able to use the shoulder to turn instead of slowing down moving lanes of traffic.

I do this all the time and the people traveling at speed behind me really appreciate it because they don't have to break cruise or slow down for me to turn. One thing I never do though, is what we all think you did. Which is to pull out of stopped traffic and then travel up the shoulder to make a turn. I've seen way too many people pulled over for that.

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So why did I get ticketed?

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Because you traveled on the shoulder for a non-emergency.

The cop that wrote the ticket didn't know how to write it up, which is very common but he knew you broke the law.

Won't hurt to fight it and if you demand a court date they likely reduce it to a non-moving violation like a seatbelt ticket, without having to even see the judge. It's just your time you give up.

I'm not an attorney but I play one on the OT.

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Ive tried researching the legal definition of each and find nothing. I called LDOT and was told they couldnt give me that information

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LDOT isn't going to have the legal definition you're looking for either. It will be in the state laws.