Terminate/Consolidate: NSU responds to Regents’ review
March 28, 2011"Nicholls Percussion Ensemble" (Thibodaux)
March 30, 2011
Remember plans to build Interstate 49; a highway system stretching from the Gulf Coast to the Canadian border?
Signs still dot the U.S. Highway 90 promising the eventual arrival of the corridor. However, the steep $1.1 billion projected cost of connecting a segment extending from Lafayette to New Orleans is serving as a huge roadblock.
“We have been neglected for 40 years, much too long, on this stretch of I-49,” said State Rep. Sam Jones (D-Franklin), who serves on the state House Transportation Committee. “I intend to fully utilize my position … to see I-49 funded and built to improve our commerce and industry and highway safety.”
Work on the interstate system is continuing, although not visible locally. Jones said the overpass at La. Highway 85 near Patoutville in eastern Iberia Parish should be complete by the end of 2011.
Work on the St. Mary Parish’s overpass at La. Highway 318 – near Jeanerette and Four Corners – has been slowed by final footprint and environmental issues.
“Funding for this project will be available for design shortly,” Jones said. “After that, I expect construction to start in about a year.
“At that point we will have I-49 status from Lafayette to the Wax Lake Outlet (40 miles). All crossovers will be removed,” he noted.
Officials are seeking input as to where overpasses should be located. Red Cypress Road is among the slated overpass sites. Jones said it is uncertain at what point it will cross existing railroad tracks.
“We will repeat those steps in Berwick and Bayou Vista in the coming months, which will also include frontage roads,” he said. “From there, we will establish priorities and begin funding those. Hopefully, we’ll get one per year or at least every other year at a cost of about $35 million each.”
By the outset of next year, Jones said he expects to see progress on the I-49 system in the Tri-parishes.
“I have no doubt we are going to see significant movement as we finish up in Iberia Parish and move to the Atchafalaya River,” he said. “I believe that we can see funding put in place over the next six years.”
The news is welcomed by Morgan City Mayor Tim Matte, a longtime advocate for the interstate project.
“People bypass us. With the designation as an interstate come many benefits,” Matte said. For example, it is advantageous in recruiting businesses that rely on highway transportation.
St. Mary Parish Director of Economic Development Frank Fink said the completion of I-49 from Berwick through the Calumet Cut is crucial to the future development of more than 4,000 acres.
A number of plans will likely follow the interstate’s opening, Fink said. The property, all located above the 100-year-flood plain, runs through Bayou Vista, Berwick and Patterson.
“Access to developable property and safety are critical to economic development,” Fink said.
Morgan City native and MidSouth Bank CEO Rusty Cloutier, who joined the fight for I-49 when he was a member of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, said “the obvious bottleneck to I-49” will be bisecting Lafayette while the highway corridor is built. Likewise, making the connection between Wax Lake Outlet and Bayou Vista in St. Mary Parish will also be a challenge.
“This is going to take some time,” said Jerry Guathier, leader of America’s division of Oceaneering International. “I’ve visited with federal highway representatives on this issue and they indicate a ‘slow but sure’ approach to the construction.
“I took this to mean that it will be a long, long time before we see a seamless I-49 corridor from Lafayette through Morgan City,” he said.
State and federal deficits pose another threat to road construction.
“Spending has to slow down at the national level,” Cloutier said. “Highway projects like I-49 may end up a casualty of our addition to federal spending.”
Still, the project is showing signs of life compared to five years ago.
“We’re at a point now where we need to look at creative financing to finish this; things like toll roads,” Cloutier said. “I don’t think we have a choice or we will live with second-class roads forever.
“Florida, Texas and West Virginia all have toll roads. It’s time Louisiana joins them,” he said. “The days of saying we’re going to get the money from the federal government are over.”
Signs along U.S. Highway 90 announce the future arrival of Interstate 49, a highway system linking Canada to the Gulf Coast region. HOWARD J. CASTAY JR.
