Shreveport’s I-49 Inner City Connector Inches Closer to Reality

One of the final hurdles standing in the way of finishing the I-49 inner city connector in the heart of Shreveport has been accomplished.

The final draft of the environmental impact study was turned in to the feds last month. The Federal Highway Administration has given preliminary approval of that draft. Once the approval is granted, a public hearing can be held and the process to start the work can begin.

Kent Rogers with the North Louisiana Council of Governments (NLCOG) has told the Caddo Parish Commission that “we now have light at the end of the tunnel, finally." He also thanked leaders for their patience for all these years.

READ MORE: Governor Is Optimistic He's Got Federal Support for I-49

The proposed 3-mile stretch of the roadway through Shreveport has been in the debate and study phase for more than 20 years. The community has been hotly divided over continuing this highway through the Allendale neighborhood. Allendale Strong has mounted a campaign to fight the route through the neighborhood.

When the roadway was initially proposed, the projected cost was about $300-400 million dollars. But the stretch of roadway will now cost close to a billion dollars. Rogers says much of the cost increase has happened since the Covid pandemic. He says construction costs after Covid exploded.

What Money Is Available from the State

150 million is included in the Capitol Outlay budget for bonding money for this project.
100 million was also dedicated to this project from the BP oil spill money.
Rogers says about $40 million dollars also comes in from auto sales money that can be used for this project.

KEEL asked Rogers if some families in the Allendale area would have to be relocated and he told us "yes", but he says it will not involve a lot of people.

He hopes the state DOTD will use the design/build process to complete this project. He says it will be done in 3 phases. One is the section at I-220, the other is from Hearne to Ford Street and the third is the section close to I-20. Rogers says the total construction time is expected to be 5-7 years.