The Louisiana Department of Highways and Economic Development will produce a report by the end of 2012 on whether tolls can help finance construction of the final 136 miles of Interstate Highway 49 from Lafayette to New Orleans.
The report was ordered by the recently adjourned Legislature to study the feasibility of the toll-financing idea before the 2013 Legislature meets.
The project to upgrade the remaining segment of U.S. 90 to Interstate standards is expected to cost $5 billion.
The four-lane highway will eventually stretch through Louisiana from New Orleans to east of Texarkana, Ark.
The portion of the project from Shreveport to the Arkansas line has been completed.
A study by the highway department in 2001 estimated that toll revenue could provide 30% of revenue for the segment from New Orleans to Lafayette.
Tolls could provide 50% of the revenue needed to build a shorter segment from Lafayette to Houma.
The Lafayette Metropolitan Expressway Commission is carrying out a separate study to determine whether tolls on a six-mile stretch of I-49 will support construction of the highway through Lafayette. The partially elevated segment is expected to cost $1.1 billion.
