Highway in the Interstate system which, so far, is counter to that system's name, because it's purely intrastate, going from Lafayette to Shreveport in Louisiana. However, a northbound extension is planned that would take it to Kansas City, passing through Texarkana on the way. A southbound extension is also planed to curve through the southern part of Louisiana and end up around New Orleans.

If some political activists have their way, the northbound extension might never actually meet up with the existing highway. The extension is planned to start at I-220 in northern Shreveport, while the current highway ends at I-20 around downtown Shreveport; the span in between would go through a poor black neighborhood, so any proposal to actually build it causes cries of racism from people who fear damage to the neighborhood from ripping it up in the middle to build a highway. This isn't entirely unfounded -- some south Shreveport neighborhoods have similarly gone downhill since I-49 construction there in the 80s -- however, there are some in the black community who disagree and think that the highway might actually promote economic development. However, the controversy is enough to cause most politicians to regard that segment as a hot potato and avoid bringing it up, focusing only on the less controversial part starting at I-220.

Before I-49 was finished, state senator Foster Campbell made the news when he drove past the barricades keeping the public off the incomplete highway and attempted to return home from a legislative session that way -- he found out that the barriers were there for a reason, as the pavement had large gaps where the highway hadn't been built yet, and his car fell into one of them, causing the loss of one of his eyes. Although this injury was the result of his own stupidity and unlawful behavior, he still succeeded in receiving workman's compensation from the state for the injury due to the travel being related to his job as a legislator. The voters have continued to re-elect this man to the state senate since, and he makes the local and state news frequently as he grandstands for various idiotic schemes, often involving attempts to force sectarian Christian morality on all residents.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.