Would You Pay A Toll For I-49 Between Lafayette And New Orleans To Be Completed?

Tolls could be used as a revenue source to help pay for upgrades of U.S. Hwy. 90 between Lafayette and New Orleans to interstate standards.

A state-funded feasibility study conducted to determine how much money such tolls would generate a quarter to half of the amount needed for the $3 billion project.

According to the Acadiana Advocate, state Sen. Bret Allain and others associated with a coalition whose main impetus is to get the Interstate 49 South project completed were disappointed by the forecast.

If the entire 145-mile stretch of I-49 between Lafayette and New Orleans was tolled, about 26 percent to 51 percent of the project could be paid for, the newspaper reported.

The numbers improved for a 50-mile stretch about midway between Lafayette and New Orleans, with that area possibly generating between 54 percent and 106 percent of the required amount, the Advocate reported.

Those amounts are based on a toll starting at 18 cents per mile and going up to 25 cents per mile.

Another idea would to toll only certain segments between Lafayette and New Orleans and use the money generated from those tolls to pay for those individual segments.