The I-49 Connector freeway project is a proposed 5.5 mile freeway that would extend I-49 from the existing I-10/I-49 interchange through Lafayette, Louisiana. It would be the final segment for completing the proposed extension of I-49 from Lafayette to New Orleans via the US Highway 90 corridor.

The project is currently in the Conceptual Design/Preliminary Engineering stage of development, with a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) and a Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) Design program ongoing to finalize the design of the freeway. Due to public feedback, the initial design alternative approved in the 2003 Record of Decision by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LADOTD) is being modified with proposed refinements in its design and footprint within the communities of Lafayette which it will pass through.

While the concept of extending I-49 through Lafayette has been explored and debated for more than 40 years, it has only been recently that a consensus has been reached around the particular alignment through Lafayette. The proposed alignment uses most of the existing Evangeline Thruway which runs just east of downtown Lafayette, except for a section where the freeway follows a natural curve between the Thruway couplet and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe/Union Pacific (BNSF/UP) railroad mainline. This alignment provides the most direct and most cost-efficient means of completing I-49 through Lafayette, and also provides direct access to the major orgins and destinations such as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette Regional Airport, and Downtown Lafayette. It also allows the greatest opportunity for redevelopment of areas of Lafayette that have experienced major economic suffering due to the depression of the oil and gas industry, and also allows for potential improvements to both the Thruway and surrounding streets and arterials to diversify for alternative means of transportation (such as walking and bicycling).

Nevertheless, a small minority of activists led by the Greater Lafayette Sierra Club have combined with some local interest groups to oppose the Connector alignment, preferring instead for I-49 to be rerouted around the outskirts of Lafayette. Their preferred alignment would be the Teche Ridge Bypass, which would run further east along the Teche-Couteau Ridge along St. Martin Parish, generally extending from south of Carencro to near Breaux Bridge to west of St. Martinville, before reconnecting with US 90/Future I-49 South south of Broussard. Their main arguments are that Teche Ridge would be less expensive than the Connector alignment, would avoid displacements and disruption of neighborhoods, and would protect Lafayette's Chicot Aquifer from possible contamination due to the possible impact of the Connector corridor on the former Southern Pacific Railroad yard, which has been found to be a possible source of contamination.

While I certainly respect and acknowledge the opposition's right to have their concerns addressed in public, it is my position that their fears are unwarranted, and that the Connector at its present alignment can be built to mitigate all of their concerns. I especially support the work of the Evangeline Thruway Redevelopment Team's Evangeline Corridor Initiative program, which has been instrumental and vital in providing feedback and offering design modifications that could not only address proper concerns, but make the Connector freeway a model for transportation design that works with rather than against the will of the people.

Please join me in signing this petition in support of building the Connector freeway the best way it can be, and supporting the ETRT and LCG's efforts to improve on the work that FHWA and LADOTD have already done. We have one chance to do this right; we shouldn't let the naysayers and NIMBY's delay us any longer.