Louisiana Highway 3073

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Louisiana Highway 3073
North end:	LA 3184 (Bertrand Drive/Ambassador Caffery Parkway)
Major junctions:	U.S. Highway 167 (Johnston Street)
South end:	LA 339 (Verot School Road)
Highways in Louisiana

LA 3073, more commonly known as Ambassador Caffery Parkway, is a western bypass route of Lafayette, Louisiana. It runs from LA 3184 (Bertrand Drive) approximately 7.5 miles south to LA 339 (Verot School Road), crossing the Vermillion River along the way. The road serves as a primary commercial corridor for the growing southwest suburbs of Lafayette, running directly past the Mall of Acadiana as well as many smaller commercial centers.

An extension of the road east to U.S. Highway 90 (Evangeline Thruway/Future Interstate 49) is currently being constructed as of March 2008. To the north, Ambassador Caffery Parkway continues as LA 3184 past its junction with Interstate 10 to Renaud Road.

[edit] Train Derailment

At approximately 1:30AM in the early morning of Saturday, May 17, 2008 six BNSF rail cars derailed underneath the Ambassador Caffery overpass at Cameron St. Cars carrying hydrochloric acid were damaged, spilling about 10,000 gallons of HCl. A 1 mile radius around the "hot zone" was put under mandatory evacuation, affecting around 3,000 Lafayette residents. Most of Ambassador was reopened by the evening of Sunday, May 18, when the evacuation order was reduced from 1 mile to 1,000 ft. The highway was fully reopened on Monday, May 19 at around 6:00 PM, after officials inspected and deemed the overpass safe.