LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY)-- Lafayette Mayor-President elect Monique Blanco Boulet held her first public meeting since being elected to office. 

Boulet's Community Conversation event at the LITE Center focused on the I-49 Connector Project.  On Monday, Boulet started the discussion stating she's not afraid to step into tough conversations.  

"When they built this in the 60's like they did across the country they went down the poor side of the railroad track and they put this highway," Boulet said. "In 1960 30% of the residents and 30% of the businesses moved out and it died.  It was a thriving part of town and it died.  It looks exactly the same today."

The mayor-president-elect admits the conversation is challenging but necessary.  

"What is rebirth if we don't really address the Thruway," Boulet added.

Boulet said the I-49 Connector is a chance to rebuild the Thruway with sidewalks and landscape.

The project will extend I-49 from I-10 to the Lafayette Regional Airport.

"If you think of the big trucks today, they are coming through the thruway and through that section of town right at people's front doors; a few feet from people's front doors to be honest with you," Boulet said. "This elevates the interstate traffic and makes the thruway local. It makes the thruway much more livable, much more accessible, and gives us an opportunity to define our community rather than the highway defining us."

The next two meetings will discuss Housing & Revitalization and LCG's impact on economic growth.  

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