I-49 group suspends work on toll study

A group considering tolls to help pay for Interstate 49 through Lafayette has put its work on hold pending a state study on using toll revenue to complete I-49 all the way to New Orleans.

Completing the interstate from Lafayette to New Orleans would cost an estimated $5 billion — a price tag that has been a major roadblock for the project.

The Advocate reports the Lafayette Metropolitan Expressway Commission has studied the use of tolls to help fund two shorter options. Those options are an 18-mile stretch going south from I-10 in Lafayette and a 37-mile stretch from Lafayette that pushes farther through Iberia Parish.

The Expressway Commission Tuesday announced that it has suspended further work on the toll study pending an I-49 toll report by the state.