Future plans include portions of the remaining roadway in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas, to link Kansas City, Missouri with New Orleans.

The plan called for creating a limited access expressway from New Orleans to the Canadian border and on to Winnipeg (via Manitoba Highway 75).

Southbound motorists continue through the interchange onto the Evangeline Thruway, which transitions from a limited-access portion of LA 182 to a major divided thoroughfare that picks up the US 90 corridor heading through the heart of Lafayette.

US 167 departs from the Interstate's alignment at exit 23 between Opelousas and Washington, and I-49 begins to take a northwesterly path through the heavily wooded rural terrain.

Various state highways provide access to the small towns and cities located along the parallel US 71 and US 167 corridors, such as Lebeau, Ville Platte, Bunkie, and Cheneyville.

However, through traffic bound for I-20 west and the northern segment of I-49 is directed to transfer onto LA 3132 at an interchange located about 5.5 miles (8.9 km) south of this terminus.

The freeway passes through steep, sparsely populated terrain before entering the Bobby Hopper Tunnel in Washington County.

Just a few miles east of Joplin, I-49 leaves I-44 and heads north and enters Carthage, intersecting with Interstate 49 Business (I-49 Bus.

In 1965, Governor John McKeithen proposed a toll road to perform this function and extend it to New Orleans, but the idea was never carried out.

[13][14] The remaining portions running through the urban centers of Alexandria and Shreveport required a much greater expenditure of time and funding.

[7] "Interstate 49 North" was a 36-mile (58 km) construction project that extended the highway from I-20 in Shreveport to the Arkansas state line and was divided into 11 segments.

In the early 2000s, there were plans by both states to rename the roadway as such between I-44 west of Joplin and I-40 at Fort Smith once a new bypass of US 71 had been completed around Bella Vista, Arkansas, and north to Pineville, Missouri.

[21] However, the AASHTO Special Committee on U.S. Route Numbers and Interstate Highways denied the I-49 designation at their annual meeting in September 2007 because none of the new roadway was yet under construction.

[22] During this time, there was also some debate as to whether the I-29 designation should be extended farther south from its current terminus in Kansas City to either Joplin or all the way to Fort Smith.

[24] The designation applies to current US 71 between I-435 in south Kansas City and Route H at Pineville (McDonald County), which was expanded to Interstate standards beginning in 2010.

The two-year project represented a shift in funding priorities for MoDOT, which, in 2007, announced the indefinite postponement of its portion of the Bella Vista bypass project, citing a $139-million (equivalent to $197 million in 2023[15]) funding gap in Arkansas between construction costs and toll revenues, and Arkansas's commitment to only a two-lane bypass constructed over six years.

[37] On August 11, 2010, the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced $10 million (equivalent to $13.6 million in 2023[15]) in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant funding to construct a portion of the new four-lane bypass, though the funding covered only a two-lane segment 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long.

Groundbreaking occurred on July 8, 2011, with a public ceremony that included Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe, and Senator Mark Pryor.

The USDOT news release refers to the project as part of the "I-49 corridor", effectively ending questions about how the new highway would be numbered.

[41] Following the passing of a ten-year half-cent sales tax measure in 2012, AHTD had acquired sufficient additional revenue to fund the southbound half of the Bella Vista Bypass without tolls.

[42] Since design work had been completed prior to passing the measure, AHTD was able to let the segment between AR 72 and U.S. Route 71 Business (US 71B) in February 2014 as the first job of the Connecting Arkansas Program.

[47] The only Arkansas project remaining for a fully operational two-lane bypass was the 7.6-mile (12.2 km) section between County Road 34 and the Missouri state line; however, was is listed as TBD by AHTD.

[53] The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) is working to extend I-49 from Lafayette southeast to New Orleans along the route of US 90, which is a divided four-lane highway between the two cities.

It is planned to be a six-lane elevated freeway, mostly utilizing the Evangeline Thruway corridor, except for a segment paralleling the BNSF/Union Pacific railroad line to serve the downtown area.

[56] Planning for this segment has been ongoing for decades, but construction has been delayed numerous times due to local opposition.

The most recent attempt to begin construction was halted due to federal officials launching a civil rights investigation into the project in early 2023.

[citation needed] The Raceland–New Orleans segment of the proposed I-49 South was originally approved in 2008 with a Record of Decision for a fully elevated freeway on a mostly new alignment along the entire length.

[60] The resulting design changes greatly reduced costs by incorporating much of the existing US 90 corridor, except bypasses of Des Allemands and Paradis, and a revised connection with I-310/LA 3127.

It then crosses Crescent City Connection over the Mississippi River into Downtown New Orleans and continues onto the Pontchartrain Expressway to an interchange with I-10.

Options for the remaining gap between I-20 and I-220 in Shreveport include the proposed Inner-City Connector, a 3.6-mile (5.8 km) direct connection between the completed portions of I-49.