{"id":835963,"date":"2026-09-04T07:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T07:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/835963\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T07:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T07:48:13","slug":"lafayette-loop-being-resurrected-to-handle-spacex-traffic-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/835963\/","title":{"rendered":"Lafayette loop being resurrected to handle SpaceX traffic | News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Plans for a loop around Lafayette are being resurrected in part to handle traffic to the planned <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theadvocate.com\/baton_rouge\/news\/business\/spacex-louisiana-elon-musk\/article_27a138ea-c5ed-5200-9069-1914cf95dc46.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">SpaceX project<\/a> in Vermilion Parish.<\/p>\n<p>Elaine Abell, chairman of the Lafayette Metropolitan Expressway Commission, confirmed on Thursday that she is reviving the commission, which has been dormant for some time.<\/p>\n<p>Elon Musk\u2019s massive SpaceX project near Pecan Island, south of Abbeville on the Gulf Coast, has increased interest in the Interstate 49 Lafayette Connector to move people and equipment through Acadiana to Vermilion Parish.<\/p>\n<p>Some, including Parish Council member John Guilbeau, have brought up the need to instead build the loop or expressway so heavy equipment can bypass the heart of the city of Lafayette.<\/p>\n<p>The loop has been discussed for decades, with some leaders pointing to the Lake Charles loop that was built in the 1960s.<\/p>\n<p>While it might not be feasible to build the entire loop at this time, Abell said she wants the commission to look into building the western section of the expressway, connecting Vermilion Parish with I-49, which runs north to south, and Interstate 10, which runs east to west. I-10 and I-49 meet in Lafayette.<\/p>\n<p>A public-private partnership will probably be needed to pay for construction of the expressway, she said.<\/p>\n<p>The commission was created in 2003 by the Louisiana Legislature.<\/p>\n<p>A Tier 1 Final Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision was issued in December of 2022 for the expressway.<\/p>\n<p>The I-49 Lafayette Connector awaits approval of its Final EIS and Record of Decision.<\/p>\n<p>At a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theadvocate.com\/acadiana\/news\/i-49-lafayette-comments-build-it-now-pump-the-brakes\/article_04b7bc88-a5c6-4dbf-80c8-d9ac6acd78ba.html#tncms-source=aca-featured-2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">hearing Wednesday on the Connector<\/a> project, several residents mentioned constructing the loop as an alternative to building the elevated 6-lane Connector through Lafayette.<\/p>\n<p>Jacobs Engineering and a project manager have been selected for the expressway, Abell said.<\/p>\n<p>The website should be updated next week and an informational meeting probably will be held toward the end of September, she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plans for a loop around Lafayette are being resurrected in part to handle traffic to the planned SpaceX&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":835964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[353982,8803,348708,353981,353983,79,193,1513,272472],"class_list":["post-835963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-elaine-abell","tag-hardwall","tag-interstate-49","tag-lafayette-expressway","tag-lafayette-metropolitan-expressway-commission","tag-science","tag-space","tag-spacex","tag-vermilion-parish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}