I-49 Lafayette Connector/I-49 South Update (The Sequel)

[Anthony_JK]

I haven't met Mrs. Burruss, but I do know that Michael Waldon is indeed White.

The stupidest aspect of their argument is that since the construction of the original Evangeline Thruway couplet was a racist intent to destroy traditional Black neighborhoods, the building of the Connector along the Thruway is simply a continuation of that "racist" intent and therefore must be canceled on "civil rights" grounds. Really?? I always thought that the alignment of the Thruway selected (using one way couplets involving existing streets) signified a compromise of avoiding bisecting the Sterling Grove neighborhood as well as providing a more direct connection between US 167 north to Opelousas and beyond and the US 90 section to the southeast. The old Southern Pacific Railroad classification yard that used to be located in the central part of the city (closed down in the 1960s and relocated to the present location west of Lafayette) was already a major divider between neighborhoods; and the current BNSF/UP mainline still splits the city nearly in half. Also, the old classification railyard had to be cleaned up due to hazardous waste contamination.

The existing proposed Connector alignment that was approved in the 2003 ROD was an adequate compromise that avoided excessive displacements by pushing the freeway alignment off the Thruway in its central section, while providing direct access to the CBD and neighborhoods through interchanges. The modifications in the current Supplemental EIS/CSS process further reduce and mitigate impacts, and even (through the "urban boulevard" concept), provide opportunities for further development of the corridor and better connectivity (along with the usual walkability and bikeability that urban designers say they want). This isn't about "racism"; this is pure NIMBYISM and exploiting the "race card" to oppose this project.

[Bobby5280]

The I-49 connector could improve business thru the middle of Lafayette and maybe boost employment through those parts of time. It could do more to help improve the lives of people these activists are claiming to protect. Under the current status quo little will be done to help. More commercial and residential development will take place around the outer fringes of the city, particularly areas near where Future I-49 freeway segments are completed.

I think the only negative risk of building the I-49 connector is a potential of gentrification of lower income neighborhoods. But Lafayette isn't exactly a major tourist attraction or location where douchey people want to buy 2nd and 3rd homes. A completed I-49 skirting downtown Lafayette could attract new retail and service businesses as well as fuel after business hours leisure activity in the downtown district. If lots of people can drive in and out of the downtown area easier they might visit more often.

[Urban Prairie Schooner]

Wouldn't improved access as provided by the I-49 Connector increase mobility and access to jobs for the residents of the adjacent neighborhoods? Doesn't seem racist to me in that light.

[Anthony_JK]

Seems to me that it would, and there are real opportunities for economic growth along the Evangeline Thruway "grand boulevard" segment between Second/Third and Fourteenth/Taft streets, especially in the area between the freeway ROW and the boulevard on the west side of the boulevard. Plus, the current northbound Thruway roadway between Fourteenth and Magnolia Streets would be repurposed as a two-way local street and returned to the McComb-Veazey neighborhood which the Thruway borders.

Not to mention, this can be done with minor mitigation for all of the neighborhoods abetting the freeway alignment, since the Thruway would remain as a surface through/local access/frontage/service road system while the Connector freeway cannibalizes all the heavy through traffic. Far better than the alternative of a choked and dangerous, if not deadly Thruway with little or no sidewalks and NO bikeability right now.

[Anthony_JK]

An update to the Connector nonsense ongoing.


NOLA.com ran an editorial right after posting the article on the "civil rights" investigation of the Connector project which skewered Burruss and Waldon pretty good:


Editorial: The "racist" road is needed for Interstate 49




Mrs. Burruss was butthurt enough to launch a letter to the editor to the Baton Rouge Advocate defending the lawsuit and deriding the project:


Letters: I-49 extension plan would exacerbate earlier redlining




And then, some AARoads roadgeeker decided to respond to Mrs. Burruss with some actual facts:


Freeway project disconnected from racial strife




I may decide to do a full debunking of Mrs. Burruss' non-arguments over at my Connector support blog if you want it.

[Concrete Bob]

Nice job on your response to Ms. Burruss!  You cited facts, rather than simply stirring up emotions.  Much of the rhetoric used by the anti-freeway crowd to convey their point is based on emotions rather than facts. 

[Anthony_JK]

It's been a while since my last update, and we are still awaiting progress on the Supplemental EIS for this project.


But, may I introduce y'all to what must be one of the absolutely blatant smear jobs on the Connector project I have ever seen. Almost every sentence of this letter to the editor posted to the Acadiana Advocate in October is one lie packed on another.


I was induced to post a brief letter in response, which is awaiting review for publishing. In the meantime, here's the original LTE by Roger Peak which completely whiffs on every point.


Letters To The Editor -- Let's abandon the I-49 Connector plan for once and for all (Acadiana Advocate)


Once my response is approved and posted, I'll provide the link.

[The Ghostbuster]

Does it seem likely that the Interstate 49 Lafayette Connector will be abandoned, as the letter writer suggests? I look forward to reading the response Anthony_JK posted in response to the letter writer.

[Anthony_JK]

Naaaah, it's not going to be abandoned. Not by a long shot.


In fact, the City of Lafayette has reinforced its full support of the project. Yesterday, incoming Lafayette Mayor-President Monique Blanco-Boulet held the first of her "Community Conversations" on her goals for her upcoming governance, and she expressed full support for the Connector, provided that all the assorted refinements and accessories for revitalizing the adjacent Evangeline Thruway was included in the ultimate construction.


Also at the meeting was LADOTD Connector Project Manager Tim Nickel, who presented an updated timeline on the progress of the environmental and design process for the Connector. Based on his words, we can expect another round of public meetings in February of next year, and perhaps the release of the Draft Supplemental EIS, and the subsequent NEPA Public Hearing, by this coming summer. Nickel also noted that engineering and design work is now underway for the segment of the Connector between I-10 and the L&DRR rail spur along the Evangeline Thruway (which would include constructing the interchange at Willow Street), as well as the Kaliste Saloom Road interchange near Lafayette Regional Airport.


The Acadiana Advocate has an article on Boulet's meeting here (heads up: they misspell Tim Nickel's last name as "Nicholls"):


Monique Blanco Boulet seeks to revitalize Interstate 49 Connector project, Evangeline Thruway (Acadiana Advocate)

Still waiting for the Acadiana Advocate to post my response to Peak's ridiculous Op-Ed: will link it when it is done.

[Anthony_JK]

Screw it....Peak's letter is just too stupid for delay. Gonna fisk it here and now. Link to it here.

I am writing as a member of the Louisiana Four Corners for Transportation Planning Reform, a statewide group that supports spending highway funds on existing infrastructure, not on elevated interstates.

Great....another New Urbanist anti-freeway scam. But also....a Google search turns out that this organization was founded by the group Save Allendale, the very group organized to oppose the Shreveport I-49 Inner City Connector through downtown. At least that proposal actually does go through a sensitive neighborhood, and at least there there is a somewhat feasible bypass alternative (Loop It/Inner Loop/I-220); but how exactly is protecting a neighborhood for gentrification and "urban removal" reform, exactly?

Regrettably, each of the Lafayette mayor-president candidates, despite claims of fiscal conservatism, staunchly support the Interstate 49 connector project; only a big-government big-spending politician could love the connector. A local blogger refers to this boondoggle as the con.

That "local blogger"? Michael Waldon, long time opponent of "The Con"...who has since (or had already, since Peak's letter was published in October) hightailed it to Delaware along with his wife, Ann Burruss, who wrote a previous Letter to the Editor in February condemning the Lafayette Connector as "racist" based on the original drawings of Lafayette neighborhoods. In the 1920's. Thirty years before the Evangeline Thruway was constructed out of the local street grid. SIXTY years before the concept of the Connector freeway along the Evangeline Thruway was even first studied.


Burruss also wrote a similar letter to the US Department of Transportation, which resulted in USDOT launching an investigation over the alleged "racist" impacts of the Lafayette project, doubled with the Shreveport ICC. Apparently both failed to reach the conclusion Burruss hoped for.


Also, nice touch of the "fiscal conservative"/"big government spending" card, hoping to pander to our new incoming conservative Governor Landry.

If ever built, the cost of the connector will be over a billion dollars. DOTD has warned this would require incremental funding and has suggested higher taxes and future tolls may be needed to finance the connector. Will Lafayette support this?

Actual estimates for the total cost of the Connector is near $2 billion, but since the Feds will pony up 90% of the funding, and it will be incrementally constructed, the actual cost to Lafayette citizens will be much less. Some of the enhancements desired by local officials, such as streetscaping and dual use rights underneath and abetting the freeway ROW, will require some degree of local support and financing, but not quite to the level of a billion dollars.


Also, there will be no tolling of the Connector freeway; a study done in 2014 on the feasibility of tolls for the entire length of I-49 South essentially rejected them on account that they would not cover fully the costs of construction, that they would easily be "shunpiked" by the existing Evangeline Thruway/frontage road system, and there would be massive public opposition to tolls.

Evangeline Throughway safety improvements must wait until the connector's completion, leading to more tragic pedestrian deaths.

WRONG. The "urban boulevard" concept, the shifting of the northbound Thruway away from the Sterling Grove Historical District, the refinements for the Pinhook Road interchange that would mitigate impacts for the Freetown-Port Rico Historical District, and any upgrades of sidewalks within the corridor, are essentially baked into the design of the Connector freeway. In fact, the improvements to the Thruway have to be constructed first in order to clear ROW for the ultimate elevated viaduct. Not to mention, without the Connector freeway, there would be no improvements to the Thruway, continuing the risk to pedestrians that exists right now.

This 1950s-style elevated bridge over downtown has widespread opposition and numerous problems that will delay construction for decades or permanently block construction.

First off, the proposed elevated viaduct DOES NOT GO OVER DOWNTOWN. The Lafayette CBD rests on the other side of the BNSF/UP main railroad line from the proposed Connector ROW, which mostly goes through unoccupied land or the property of the former Southern Pacific railroad yard on the east side of the rail line. In addition, the original proposal that had been approved in the 2003 Record of Decision has been modified to eliminate many of the impacts to the CBD, mostly by removing the proposed interchanges with Second/Third and Johnston Street and allowing the new Evangeline Thruway "urban boulevard" to access downtown (with only an off ramp from the north to Second Street and the Pinhook Road interchange providing indirect access to the freeway mainline).

Second...the only major issue with the current Connector routing through the center of Lafayette is the potential impact on the Chicot Aquifer, which runs underneath most of the city and provides Lafayette with its drinking water. The former SP rail property was initially declared a hazardous facility and given a cleanup by the Department of Environmental Quality, but there are concerns that some hazardous materials remain, and that pilings for the elevated viaduct could possibly penetrate the protective clay layer, causing leeching into the aquifer. LDEQ, FHWA, and LADOTD already have protocols and procedures in place for mitigating and preventing any impacts to the aquifer, and they will be incorporated into the design and construction of the Connector viaduct. The only real opposition comes from the usual NIMBYs and New Urbanist extremists who oppose elevated freeways on feelz alone.




[To be continued in next post]

[Anthony_JK]

[Fisking of Roger Peak's Acadiana Advocate Letter to the Editor opposing I-49 Lafayette Connector, continued from previous post]

Project approval awaits the overdue Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, followed by public and government review and likely court challenges.

No duh, Sherlock Peak. The NEPA process already includes public input, and counts as government review on its own; the Supplemental EIS counts as the process for Federal approval for the project. The Supplemental Record of Decision that would result from the SEIS process serves as final Fed approval of the project.


As for any court challenges....since the new SEIS process is an extension of the approved 2003 Connector ROD that was already sued and found to be legitimate from a legal standpoint, I hardly think that any new legal action by Connector opponents would be successful, especially in a court system based on establishing prior precedent. Only reason for legal action would be to continue to stall and block and hold their breath until they get their way.

A lawsuit against owners of the documented contaminated abandoned railyard downtown is ongoing.

That lawsuit was filed back in 2018 or so by the Lafayette Sierra Club and other Connector freeway opponents, calling for a more detailed and updated analysis of the SP railyard property and, if needed, a full cleanup of hazardous materials. Strangely enough, the NEPA/SEIS process for the Connector calls for a Stage II Environmental Assessment for any properties that may contain hazardous materials within the ROW, and LADOTD has in fact executed one here. No word as of yet if any contamination was found, or whether there was enough to warrant mitigation beyond what is already proposed.


In fact, cleaning up the railyard property could be an advantage for the Connector project, for there is the potential of extending local streets underneath to finally reconnect the Freetown-Port Rico neighborhood on the west side of the BNSF/UP tracks, and the McComb-Veazey neighborhood on the east side of the Thruway, both of which had been separated by the railyard.

DOTD's purchase of this site would entangle them in the lawsuit and possibly transfer liability for contamination from the owners to the Louisiana taxpayer. Construction on this site would threaten further contamination of our aquifer.

No, it wouldn't. LADOTD would only be responsible for ROW they acquire from the railyard property needed to build the viaduct, not the entire site; they would still apply the usual LDEQ/LADOTD protocols in preventing any contamination of the aquifer; and I'd think that having Louisiana taxpayers pay for cleaning up a potential hazardous waste site to make it whole and functional again would be a good thing...right?

Supporters claim that the connector will bolster the economy. Residents of Treme in New Orleans living in the shadow of the Interstate 10 bridge over Claiborne Avenue would disagree.

Ahhhhh, yes....straight to the NOLA I-10 Claiborne Elevated Big Lie. Never mind that that idea flamed out completely thanks to the essential fact that the Claiborne Elevated is the sole main transportation artery that serves New Orleans East and points beyond from the NOLA CBD, the French Quarter, and the Ceasar's Superdome; and that even Treme residents backed away quickly due to real concerns that removing the elevated was a prelude to "urban removal" of Treme's current residents for gentrification. Besides, you could make a serious case that Treme's issues were more about NOLA officials not giving a damn about that neighborhood....which absolutely does not apply to the Lafayette Connector's long Refinement/CSS process. Besides, the actual goal of the Connector is to relieve the disaster that is the current Evangeline Thruway, and complete I-49 South to NOLA as a hurricane evacuation route and better access to the main shipping ports in South Louisiana.

Stormwater runoff for this project has not been addressed. Lack of access to and from downtown will cause traffic chaos. Hazardous cargo would travel through Lafayette at high speed.

The Connector project covers stormwater runoff by having separate structures for runoff from the elevated structures. Downtown access would be improved by the removal of through traffic from the Thruway to the Connector mainline, freeing that up for serving local traffic. The urban boulevard design and full flanking continuous service roads utilizing the existing Thruway, combined with enhancements for pedestrian/bicycle traffic, improves upon the existing access to downtown. Hazardous cargo using the viaduct to speed through Lafayette rather than using the current Thruway is actually an improvement, especially since Haz-Mat cargo will use the Thruway/90 corridor anyway due to it's more direct routing, rather than the I-10/Ambassador Caffery Parkway route which is much longer.


Which brings us to the final Big Lie of Peak.

A western bypass, the LRX, was designed at great expense but then disappeared. I believe that citizens would prefer this if given the alternative.

The LRX refers to the Lafayette Regional eXpressway, a planned 25 mile tollway loop around the periphery of Lafayette Parish, extending into northern Vermilion Parish and northern Iberia Parish. A Tier 1 EIS was published with a completed ROD in 2019 establishing the corridor limits for the LRX loop; Tier 2 EIS's would be required for designing and constructing segments of the project.


To say that this would be an adequate replacement for the Connector freeway is laughable. No loop bypass would remove the amount of traffic from the current Evangeline Thruway that would be needed to alleviate its problems, let alone one nearly 25 miles long and 20 miles outside of the heart of downtown Lafayette. Indeed, the developers of the LRX assumed that the Connector/I-49 South would be already completed and in operation prior to construction of the outer loop.


While the initial cost of the LRX is somewhat comparable to the cost of the Connector freeway ($1.5 billion for each), it would be madness to even think that the LRX could be a cost-effective alternative for I-49 South or the Connector freeway, especially considering that improvements to upgrade US 90 just south of Lafayette to I-49 South are already ongoing. The Verot School Road/US 90 interchange just south of the Connector project limits is under design, the Albertson's Parkway/St. Nazaire Road interchange is already complete, and the upgrade of US 90 with frontage roads extending south of Albertson's Parkway/St. Nazaire Rd./LA 182-BNSF overpass to an interchange with South Ambassador Caffery Parkway is already under construction. Combine that with the now under design Willow Street and Kaliste Saloom Road interchanges, and there is simply no concept that will divert traffic away from the Evangeline Thruway enough to diminish the need for the Connector project.


A much closer eastern bypass proposal called the "Teche Ridge Bypass" was proposed by Connector opponents at the time of the 2003 ROD process. That alternative would have generally followed the Teche Ridge to the east of US 90 in St. Martin Parish, connecting with I-49 South near the LA 88/US 90 interchange, I-10 just west of the Rees Street interchange in Breaux Bridge, and I-49 North just south of the LA 182 interchange. It would suffer from the same demerits as any other bypass, with the additional issue of crossing Cypress Swamp, which is far more sensitive wetlands that are protected by Federal and state law. The only citizens that would prefer this would be, again, the NIMBYs who simply don't want to look at a freeway shading the Evangeline Thruway, and the usual "Elevated freeways SUCK!!!" crowd.


To put it simply, Roger Peak's letter is more like an ant hill than a mountain of protest.

[The Ghostbuster]

Hopefully, the Lafeyette Connector is eventually built (ditto for Shreveport's ICC). However, it will likely be some time before either proceeds to construction.

[Anthony_JK]

LADOTD announced last week that they have reached a major milestone in the US 90/Ambassador Caffery Parkway interchange project.

On Thursday, northbound/westbound US 90 mainline traffic will be switched over to the newly constructed frontage road between just south of Ambassador Caffery Parkway and the existing northbound frontage road serving the Albertson Parkway/St. Nazaire Road interchange. This includes the newly completed frontage road overpass of LA 182 and the BNSF Railway mainline.

A similar lane shift was done earlier last year for the southbound US 90 mainline to accommodate the new southbound/eastbound frontage road between the LA 182 overpass and ACP. The north frontage road approaches were built during the construction of the Albertson Parkway interchange, this recent project completes and extends the frontage roads over LA 182/BNSF for another 2 miles or so to connect with ACP.

This will now enable LADOTD to remove the portion of the current US 90 mainline across ACP so that the mainline overpass structures can be built to complete the interchange. The US 90 mainline will also be widened to 2x3 (three lanes in either direction) through the ACP interchange, with direct access removed and restricted to the frontage roads.

LADOTD has a completion date for the entire Ambassador Caffery interchange of spring 2026.

Upcoming Traffic Shift Planned for Ambassador Caffery Interchange project along U.S. 90 in Lafayette Parish

The bend in the ROW for the northbound frontage road is there to accommodate future construction of direct connector ramps in the final build out whenever funding warrants.

BROUSSARD, La. - DOTD announces that a traffic shift is planned for U.S. 90 northbound as part of the $136 million Ambassador Caffery Interchange project.

On Thursday, February 22, 2024 beginning at 8 p.m. construction crews are scheduled to transition U.S. 90 northbound mainline traffic entirely to a stretch of new frontage road.

U.S. 90 northbound drivers will be shifted onto the new northbound frontage road beginning approximately 0.4 miles south of Ambassador Caffery and then shifted back onto U.S. 90 northbound approximately 0.3 miles south of the BNSF railroad overpass.

The new frontage road will accommodate two lanes of traffic in the northbound direction. Additionally, a signal light has been installed at the intersection of the new frontage road with Ambassador Caffery Parkway/Corne Road to accommodate through and left-turning traffic.

The temporary traffic shift is necessary to allow crews to begin widening the existing mainline of U.S. 90 northbound and constructing the new overpass. The traffic shift will be in place until the project is nearly complete.

The Ambassador Caffery Interchange construction project is estimated for completion by spring 2026.

[Anthony_JK]

The Acadiana Advocate just posted an article updating the progress of the US 90/Ambassador Caffery Parkway interchange build, and included some passing notes on other aspects of the I-49 South extension through Lafayette.


US 90, Ambassador Caffery construction in Lafayette Parish completion expected in 2026 (Acadiana Advocate)

Construction on the interchange of U.S. 90 at Ambassador Caffery Parkway in Lafayette Parish is in the third of five phases, with completion expected in the spring of 2026.
The $136 million project in Broussard, started in August 2022, is part of the Interstate 49 South plan to extend the interstate from north Louisiana to the west bank of New Orleans through Lafayette.
For years, state and federal agencies have replaced dangerous ground-level intersections along U.S. 90 with elevated bridges that will be part of I-49 South.
At Ambassador Caffery Parkway, a four-way intersection that stopped traffic on the highway will be replaced with a six-lane 1,722-foot long bridge that will allow traffic on U.S. 90 to flow over the intersection unimpeded by cross-traffic.




Two-lane frontage roads will allow local traffic to travel eastbound and westbound without entering the highway, according to an update from the Louisiana Department of Transportation. Signals will control traffic beneath the elevated highway on Ambassador Caffery Parkway and the frontage roads.
Slip ramps will be constructed for motorists entering the interstate traffic.
Currently, traffic on U.S. 90 in the area of the construction site is being diverted onto newly-constructed frontage roads.
The Verot School Road interchange at U.S. 90 in Lafayette is expected to be bid out for construction at the beginning of 2025, with construction tentatively beginning in mid-2025, Deidra Druilhet, public information office for DOTD's Acadiana region, said.




The intersection is in the final design phase. Funds in the amount of $200 million have been allocated for the project.
Meanwhile, a public meeting is expected to be scheduled in the spring on the I-49 Connector project through Lafayette. The meeting was tentatively expected to take place in February but staff are still reviewing documents and preparing materials, Druilhet said.
The final two designs for the connector will be on display at the meeting and should be online before the meeting at lafayetteconnector.com.
The I-49 Lafayette Connector is a proposed 5.5-mile section of interstate from Lafayette Regional Airport to the current terminus of I-49 at Interstate 10 in Lafayette. Probably the most controversial section of I-49 South, it is expected to be partially elevated and skirt downtown Lafayette.

The final two options for the Connector project differ only in the design of cross-street intersections with the "grand boulevard" that will re-purpose the Evangeline Thruway in the core section of the city. One uses traditional signalized intersections; the other uses roundabouts.


Also, interesting that they are just about finished with the final design on the Verot School Road interchange just south of the Connector's southern terminus. That would leave only the segment between Verot School Road and the Albertson's Parkway interchange (aside from the Connector) as needing upgrade to Interstate status.

[Anthony_JK]

Took them long enough. April 30th at the Lafayette Public Library.

Two segments of a live Public Meeting (11 AM - 1 PM & 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM) with a Virtual Public Meeting in between (2 PM - 3 PM). Written comments also accepted until May 10th. The two finalist End-to-End Alternatives will be revealed, as well as progress in the Conceptual Design and Supplemental EIS processes. Materials and exhibits will also be available via the Lafayette Connector website.

DOTD Announces Upcoming Open House Public Meeting for I-49 Lafayette Connector (LADOTD Website)