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The existing Evangeline Thruway (U.S. 90 and U.S. 167) is a north-south arterial passing through the older part of Lafayette. It serves local residential and business traffic and also functions as an integral part of the federal-aid National Highway System (NHS) servicing south Louisiana. Construction and freeway implementation would begin just south of the Lafayette Regional Airport (commercial service) and continue north to the current southern terminus of I-49 at the I-10/I-49 interchange, a length of approximately five miles. This section constitutes the logical termini for the project as it is considered to have independent utility. See Project Location Map.
U.S. 90 from Lafayette to New Orleans has been targeted in the LaDOTD’s long-range planning to become a part of the state’s freeway system, effectively serving as a southeasterly extension of I-49 (which currently terminates at its junction with I-10). 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."
In October, 1990, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LaDOTD) began a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) study of potential transportation improvements in the U.S. 90/U.S. 167 Evangeline Thruway corridor in Lafayette. Federal highway legislation enacted in 1998 (TEA-21) has designated this route as “Future I-49”. Construction to freeway standards has been completed in some sections and is under study on other sections of the highway. As shown on the Exhibit (click to view), implementation of the I-49 Connector would be the connecting link through Lafayette that is compatible with the I-49 planned freeway upgrade to the south.
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