Completing Interstate 49 through a public-private partnership is one of the five state goals that were outlined last week by Louisiana Treasurer John Kennedy.
Finishing the final link of the road from Lafayette to New Orleans could cost $5 billion, which is beyond the capacity of the federal and state governments, Kennedy told an Opelousas civic club.
The project could be financed instead by large capital investment funds that would recoup the construction costs through tolls, he said, adding that completing the highway would immediately create 100,000 permanent jobs.
“It is time to stop talking and start walking,” Kennedy said.
The most vital of his five goals is creating 250,000 new, well-paying jobs over the next four years. The state’s workforce currently totals two million, he said.
