Doing a bump on this because someone asked on a different thread about the progress of I-49 South.
As of right now, everything is in limbo mode. The study for the Lafayette Connector segment that was initiated in 2015 seems to have reached an impasse and has not been updated in nearly 2 years. There was a story last March about LADOTD extending the current I-49LC Supplemental EIS/CSS Design Study until 2021, but there has been no action by anyone involved (LADOTD, FHWA, Lafayette Consolidated Government) since then. Seems like the state has shifted its focus to fixing the I-10 mess in Baton Rouge and funding a second south bridge across the Mississippi River just south of BTR, along with the Loyola Avenue/Louis Armstrong NOLA Airport Access Road project.
Meanwhile, projects on US 90 just south of Lafayette are somewhat progressing, but still rather slow. The Albertsons Parkway/St. Nazaire Road overpass/interchange and mainline widening of the overpass over LA 182 and the BNSF/UP rail line was completed this summer. The next projects down the line would probably be extending the frontage roads over the railroad just south of Albertsons Pkwy (the approaches for the frontage road overpasses of the RR and LA 182 are already built on the north side) and building the Ambassador Caffery Parkway interchange (currently an at-grade intersection with access to the "Zoosiana", formerly known as the Zoo of Acadiana). The engineering and design are ongoing, but no funding for actual construction as of yet has been found.
Similarly, engineering and design is still taking place for the proposed interchange between US 90 and Verot School Road, but, as with the rest of the proposals, construction funding is still pending.
I'm thinking that people are holding out to see what happens with the gubernatorial election this coming Saturday. I'm guessing that with the prevailing anti-tax sentiments, it's going to be tough sledding to get any revenue for funding Lafayette's segment of I-49 South without major help from the federal government or full tolling, although there will be some attempt to at least raise some revenue through the gasoline tax by 2021.
There was a law that was passed and signed that did give I-49 South a bit of a financial boost, but most of that will probably go into minor projects like removing the at-grade rail crossing at Jeanerette and some crossovers in Iberia Parish, along with funding part of the AmbCaffery interchange.
I'll revive this thread if there are any changes or updates.