Lafayette, LA
Stop on the proposed 17,000-mile maglev network. Next stop: Baton Rouge, LA (54.9 mi).
About Lafayette
Lafayette is a city in Louisiana and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish. It is located along the Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's fourth-most populous city with a 2020 census population of 121,374; the consolidated city-parish's population was 241,753 in 2020.
Source: Wikipedia summary (full article). Population and facts as published there.
Cost breakdown (proposal-scale estimates — see math)
| Item | Basis | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal construction | Mid-size city terminal (parametric range $1–2B) | $1.5B |
| Land acquisition | Regional factor 1.0× on $200M base | $200M |
| Track: Lafayette → Baton Rouge | 54.9 mi × $500M/mi | $27.4B |
| Annual operations (share) | Staffing, power, maintenance | $30M/yr |
| Stop total (excl. annual ops) | $29.1B |
Best terminal location (proposed)
The downtown Lafayette transit center district near the Amtrak station. Downtown Lafayette's Amtrak station on the Sunset Limited route sits beside the parish transit center, in a downtown already oriented around Cajun culture tourism. The surrounding rail corridors offer guideway approaches, and the site serves UL Lafayette and the Acadiana oil-and-gas workforce.
Before / after
Aerial mock-up (illustrative, not an engineering rendering). Left: the proposed site today. Right: with the maglev terminal.
- Breaux Bridge, LA — the 'Crawfish Capital' on Bayou Teche.
- Henderson, LA — Atchafalaya Basin town.
- Grosse Tete, LA — small town on the I-10 corridor.