I-49 LAFAYETTE CONNECTOR

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD), along with national, state, regional and local partners, are moving forward with the Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) process for the I-49 Lafayette Connector Project.

In 2019, the former CSS Community Working Group (CWG) and Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) combined into the Lafayette Connector Advisory Group (LCAG) to provide a forum for the coordinated community and technical input for the CSS process. This process focuses on gathering input from key stakeholders about various design features to help develop the I-49 Lafayette Connector Design Guidelines.

Over the last several months, the I-49 Lafayette Connector Advisory Group has participated in an introductory meeting and three of six planned workshops. The two-part workshops allow LCAG members to review elements of the Connector, including the mainline structure, signature bridge, gateway elements, and joint understructure use. Workshops will continue into 2021. More information from the meetings can be found in the Project Library.

The LCAG is one of several formats used for collecting feedback. DOTD is actively seeking input from other stakeholders and the community at large. Planning for neighborhood and public meetings is already underway.

To involve more stakeholders in the process, DOTD has created the I-49 Virtual Meeting website, a virtual reality “room” that allows the community to envision design proposals for the Connector. The website features a VR scale model of the 5.5-mile I-49 Connector. The immersive experience allows viewers to see how structural components like walls, barriers, and piers could look with different proposed designs.