It’s the $5 billion question. Given today’s economic climate, and the state’s revenue shortfalls, how and when is the government ever going to be able to tackle completing the I-49 connector from New Orleans to Lafayette, a project that’s already been in the works since the 1960s. In its Sunday edition, The Times Picayune takes a look at the enormous funding challenges facing I-49 South. State Transportation Secretary William Anker notes that rising construction costs could soon push the $5.1 billion price tag up another $1.5 billion and also points out that I-49 South must compete for funding with his department’s $14 billion backlog of other road projects. Proponents for the North-South connector, which runs along U.S. Hwy. 90, hope the federal government makes a big investment in the project in its next highway bill. The article also quotes Lafayette City-Parish President Joey Durel, the new chairman of an I-49 task force set up by the governor, expressing some frustration with the slow progress.
“Everybody campaigns on I-49 . . . but we need billions,” Durel said. “People have been spending the last 25 years of their own time and money working on this. People who get stranded (in traffic) on U.S. 90 don’t consider this (I-49 South) a pipe dream. We need to move on this. . . .
“We have to keep the battle going. . . . Frankly, I don’t know if it will ever get done, but what we (task force members) have to do is ratchet it up to learn how we are going to do this and how it will be paid for. . . . But until somebody with credibility says it is a waste of time, we should do it.”
... written by Hugo Chavez , April 06, 2009 - 05:50 pm
I-49 is a huge money pit !...let it go...time to cut government budgets and cut TAXES !!
... written by Rationalist , April 07, 2009 - 06:50 pm
Yeah lets just cut taxes because roads just grow out of the Earth. I wonder if the amount of money spent by drivers wasting their time on HWY 90 would have paid for it yet. Hurricane evacuation routes aren't important to anyone right?
... written by Hugo Chavez , April 13, 2009 - 05:55 pm
Rationalist, if people don't like the roads..Then, their free to leave ! People need to understand south Louisiana is SINKING !!!
You must be logged in to post a comment. Log in using your Facebook account or register if you do not have an account yet.
There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
Philip deMahy Sr., a once respected New Iberia ad exec, was sentenced May 2 to spend the next two years (he faced up to 100 years) in a state penitentiary after state and federal investigators found dozens of images depicting children engaged in lewd sexual acts on his personal computer.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.
Subscribe to this comment's feed