Lafayette Metropolitan Planning Organization

I-49 Connector

The I-49 Connector is a 5.5 mile, elevated six lane highway that traverses through urban Lafayette starting south of I-10 and terminating just south of Lafayette Regional Airport. In 1987, the U.S. Congress authorized and funded a demonstration study to provide limited continuous access between an interstate route and a highway on the Federal-Aid primary system in Lafayette, Louisiana. Since 1987, several studies were concluded with a route being chosen by the local governing council, Alternative RR-4, which utilizes the current Evangeline Thruway alignment between I-10 and U.S. 90 (Cameron St), utilizes a new alignment curving near the Union Pacific Railroad between U.S. 90 and Pinhook Road, and returns to the existing Thruway alignment north of Pinhook Road. Public debate was intense and prompted a lawsuit to stop the RR-4 alignment from being built. Continued public meetings, education, and participation produced the Blue Book prepared by ULL's Community Design Workshop. The Blue Book along with postive public participation allowed LCG to overcome the lawsuit, continue work on the I-49 Connector, and create an agreement with all government parties involved that would become a document known as the Corridor Preservation and Management Action Plan to Preserve the I-49 Alignment (Action Plan). Currently, staff is executing the Action Plan and continuing work to advance the I-49 Connector project.