LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) -- Officials across Lafayette share their support for the I-49 Lafayette connector project.

Mayor-President Monique Blanco Boulet shares the importance of the I-49 Lafayette Connector Project.

“We really have a lot of our leadership, our legislative leadership, our local councils elected, as well as business leaders coming together behind the I-49 Connector project,” she said. “This project, the concept is really 30 plus years and it has been through a lot of iterations and the community itself has really kind of gone back and forth, really landing on the design we have today,” said Boulet.

Carlton Senigal, a Lafayette resident, said the project is long overdue.

“I'm 63 years old and this should have been happening years ago. So, yeah, it's long overdue. We really need it,” Senigal said. “It seems like every time they get ready to do a project or they think about a project they come up with. It is presented to us, and then the next thing they say is, Oh, we've got to do a survey, you got to do another survey. Every survey it takes, what, five years? So look how many five years it's been back and I'm sure our tax dollars are paying for it. So what are they doing with it?"

Boulet said there are a lot of implications for the project as it is a major gateway into Lafayette.

“In the early sixties, they built the Evangeline Thruway and really killed an economic commercial part of town, as well as a residential part of town and we really haven't seen reinvestment since the sixties and so what we have is a blighted corridor that really does need reinvestment, but it's hard to reinvest when we don't understand when this project will be built,” said Boulet.

The project is from I-10 to the airport and it's a five-and-a-half mile stretch. Boulet said the project will function as a critical hurricane evacuation route.

“When you're coming out of New Orleans, often the interstates are really locked down. So having the ability to come up Highway 90 and through Lafayette and today, it really is a roadblock. It slows down the whole evacuation process,” Boulet said.

Deidra Druilhet, the Public Information Officer of Department of Transportation and Development sent a statement,

“DOTD is following the federal process in regards to the I-49 Connector project. We are currently
conducting a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the Connector. We anticipate completing the SEIS and obtaining a Record of Decision (ROD) in Q4 2025. At this time, we are planning for a public meeting anticipated to take place in April 2024," said Druilhet.

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