The addition of the section of the Atakapa-Ishak Trail (AIT) around the Lafayette Regional Airport (LFT) is one of our highest priorities. The additional sections achieves many significant goals although it would only represent and additional 3 miles to the more than 100 mile conceptual plan. Here is a list of key points relevant to the addition of the section of the AI Trail around LFT:
This section of the trail leads to the Vermilion River by venturing along Bayou Tortue. It is one of the more scenic areas in Lafayette and amazingly you can go from downtown to lost in a world of beautiful wilderness behind the airport within minutes.
In comparison, this 3 mile section of the AIT offers scenery that would easily outshine places like Houston Memorial Park or rival the Mount Vernon Trail along the Potomac around Ronald Reagan National Airport. This section of the AIT would be a destination point unto itself.
There are several problem areas of erosions around the airport. Construction of a trail with bulk-heading would not only impede the erosion but also make erosion a concern to a broader audience.
The sense of connecting downtown Lafayette to LFT provide an essence of completeness to a project that has over 100 more miles to construct.
This segemnt of the AIT will help draw more traffic and attention to Vermilionville, the Acadian Culture Center in Lafayette (part of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park & Preserve).
In classic TRAIL form, we have an event to inaugurate the new sections of the AIT as it becomes available. The Tour des Atakapas is a run in partnership with FESTIVALS ACADIENS ET CRÉOLES
