Key part of $136M I-49 project in Lafayette starts: What did officials say about completion?

State and local officials officially broke ground on a key piece of the I-49 project Monday, giving the area some hope that the interstate could be completed in the next several years.

The ceremony Monday was for the $136-million Ambassador Caffery Parkway interchange, which will include elevated frontage roads, U-turn movements and widening the reconstruction of Ambassador Caffery to account for the new interchange, said Shawn Wilson, the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.

“It’s an essential piece of the fabric that will serve our world-class transportation system,” Wilson said. “We’re not just building infrastructure, we are building a better community.”

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I-49 has been one of the state’s most awaited infrastructure projects, promising to connect the western part of the state with New Orleans without having to cross the Mississippi River Bridge in Baton Rouge.

The legislature made significant moves during the last session to fund the I-49 construction and a few other mega-projects across the state, including setting aside a dedicated fund fueled by vehicle sales tax revenue to provide a steady stream of funds for the large projects. The legislature also put some one-time money toward infrastructure projects, including I-49.

The state is also receiving some funding from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Gov. John Bel Edwards praised U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy and U.S. Rep. Troy Carter for their support of the act. The other members of Louisiana’s delegation – newly-reelected U.S. Rep. John Kennedy and U.S. Reps. Steve Scalise, Garret Graves, Clay Higgins, Mike Johnson and Julia Letlow – voted against the act.

“That’s $6 billion in funding formula alone, not to mention the discretionary funding opportunities we’re going to get for traditional infrastructure projects,” Edwards said. “This was a big win for us.”

Wilson said the state qualified for an $86.6-million loan thanks to money put up through the IIJA and one-time money directed toward the project by the legislature. As a result of all the various funding efforts, the state has around $400 million on hand for the project.

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Wilson said that I-49 could have a considerable economic impact on the state’s economy and would improve the hurricane evacuation routes across the Gulf of Mexico coast.

“The completion of this corridor is going to remain a top priority for the Department of Transportation for years to come until its completion,” Wilson said.

The three-mile project that began Monday will involve building an interchange at Ambassador Caffery Parkway’s intersection with U.S. Hwy 90. The project also includes a six-lane bridge over Ambassador Caffery, widening U.S. 90 into six lanes, one-way frontage roads and installing new drainage structures.

Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory said the project is a “huge accomplishment” and a testament to what public officials can do together. He also said the specific project is a key part of completing the I-49 connector as a whole – which is one of the largest uncompleted infrastructure projects in North America.

“That project is not possible without this project,” Guillory said.

Page Cortez, the president of the Louisiana State Senate, and several other legislators from the area were in attendance for the groundbreaking. Cortez said the project is of high interest not only for the people in the Lafayette area, but for the western part of the state overall.

Cortez said he hopes the project will be completed while he and his colleagues are still able to take advantage of it.

“It’s been a dream to get this thing really rolling,” Cortez said. “Senator (Gerald) Boudreaux and I hope that one day we can actually drive on it and not have someone drive us on it.”

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This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Key part of $136M I-49 project in Lafayette starts