The section of Jefferson known as Phase II will begin construction in the coming months, followed shortly afterward by Phase I. (image via swbnosela.com)
“By this time next year, Louisiana, Napoleon and Jefferson will all be under construction,” Col. Ed Fleming of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told an audience of 150 Uptown residents Tuesday night. “If you’re going to try to get from Claiborne to Tchoupitoulas, it’s going to be a little difficult.” Continue reading »
Map of the sections of Broadway and Leonidas set to be repaved starting in the next few weeks — not to scale. (Map via pavinglaroads.com)
Rick Hathaway and Alex Wommack listen to residents’ concerns about the upcoming repaving of Broadway and Leonidas streets. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
Freret Street motorists will not be able to cross Napoleon Avenue on Wednesday amid ongoing construction of the new drainage canal there, officials said. Continue reading »
Freret resident Andy Brott, hydrologist W. Scott Lincoln and meteorologist Tim Erickson inspect a rain gauge on top of Brott’s house in mid January. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
For many New Orleanians, Hurricane Isaac will be remembered for the long week without power and the maddening uncertainty as to when it would return.
But for a group of National Weather Service researchers, Isaac has proven interesting for what did not happen — street flooding — despite their discovery of what appears to have been a band of abnormally heavy rainfall right across Uptown New Orleans.
“Our biggest question is, ‘Where did the water go?’” said emergency-response meteorologist Tim Erickson during a recent trip to Freret Street to investigate. Continue reading »
A water main broke in the center of Adams Street near Maple on Friday afternoon, sending water gushing skyward until repair crews could arrive, according to this video from our partners at WWL-TV:
In August, a leaking pipe created a crevasse under Adams near Maple that required the road to be shut down for repairs.
Motorists on Freret Street will be unable to cross Napoleon next week as the intersection closes so work can continue on the installation of a new drainage canal under the neutral ground, officials said. Continue reading »
The red section represents the area of South Claiborne Avenue already reduced to two lanes for the next two years; the purple area will close Wednesday until spring of next year. (map by Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
Starting Wednesday (Nov. 28), another stretch of Claiborne Avenue in the Carrollton area will be reduced to two lanes until at least March of next year as a new underground drainage canal is built under the neutral ground, officials announced today. Continue reading »
Allan Katz and Danae Columbus
We will never get out of our minds the picture of then-U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert in the wake of Hurricane Katrina asking of New Orleans, “Why would anyone want to rebuild there?” He later apologized but we thought the question marked Hastert as forever an idiot. Continue reading »
Construction related to the installation of new drainage canals under Napoleon Avenue will block motorists from being able to cross Napoleon on Freret Street on Wednesay and Thursday, according to Alexander Navarro of Boh Brothers Construction. If the weather permits, workers hope to have the intersection reopened by Friday, Navarro said.
Rich Varuso of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers illustrates the area around the levee that will must cleared of trees. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
A map of the levee-raising project shows the construction zone near the railroad tracks, well away from some of the park’s most popular recreational amenities.
The ballfields and gazebos at Audubon’s riverfront recreation area and even the trees that hang over the Mississippi River will all remain undisturbed and accessible during the year-long project to raise the Carrollton levee, officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers assured residents Thursday night, and although the “unofficial” dog park nearby will be closed off during construction, it may emerge as an official dog park after the project. Continue reading »
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will describe the project to raise the river levee along the Fly area behind Audubon Park at a meeting this evening (Thursday, Sept. 20) at 6 p.m. at the park’s ballfields. Continue reading »
Owen Courreges
I think the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans (SWB) needs to adopt a new motto to shift attention away from its staggering waste, corruption and general incompetence. That motto should be: “Hey, at least we don’t still have a horseshoer on staff!”
It recently became news that Detroit Water and Sewerage Department actually still employs a horseshoer, although it has no horses. Apparently this man does nothing but collect a paycheck, and a decent one at that — $29,245 in salary and about $27,000 in benefits. Apparently union rules keep the man on staff, and the union isn’t budging. Continue reading »
A major underground drainage project will reduce traffic to two lanes for the next two years on a three-quarter mile stretch of South Claiborne Avenue through the Carrollton area, authorities said this week. Continue reading »
A worker from the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans hands up a file he used to clean a broken water main under Adams Street before applying a steel clamp to it to seal the hole. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
Seated on milk crates on the Adams Street sidewalk, Maple Street Patisserie owner Ziggy Cichowski and Babylon Cafe owner Alexander Sakla cheered on the arrival of large yellow Sewerage and Water Board trucks around noon Friday, even as water along the stretch was being shut off in preparation of repairs to leaks gushing in the street.
“Faster, faster!” Cichowski cried out as the trucks rolled up, to laughter from a number of onlookers. Continue reading »
A New Orleans Police officer looks at the largest of the cracks on Adams Street flooding it and nearby Maple Street on Thursday afternoon. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
Well after the rain cleared on Thursday afternoon, a group of gushing leaks erupted from a series of cracks in the pavement on Adams Street, sending streams of water pouring over the pavement just a few feet away from a busy commercial stretch of Maple Street. Continue reading »
The block of Magazine Street between Napoleon and General Pershing will be closed to traffic and water pressure will be low from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday while Sewerage and Water Board crews repair a leaking water main, the agency announced. Continue reading »
The Carrollton Area Network of neighborhood associations will host a community meeting tonight to discuss the ongoing SELA drainage project and other improvements to the sewerage system, power plant and purification plant. Continue reading »
Scope of the Uptown drainage projects: yellow lines are complete; red are forthcoming. (via swbno.org)
Map of Phase 2 of the Napoleon Avenue drainage project (via swbno.org).
The Krewe of Carrollton parade gets ready to roll down Napoleon Avenue in 2011. The area will be under construction in 2013 and 2014, but Mardi Gras this year won't be affected. (Sabree Hill, UptownMessenger.com)
A massive, multi-year project to install a new canal underneath Napoleon Avenue won’t affect the parades that line up there during this year’s Carnival season, but the work is likely to have an effect on Mardi Gras in future years, officials said Thursday. Continue reading »