city government
Construction begins on Clara-Jena roadwork in Freret
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Construction has begun on a minor road project in the Freret neighborhood intended to improve access to Ochsner Baptist Medical Center prior to the major traffic disruptions that will accompany an upcoming drainage project on Napoleon Avenue. The pavement will be replaced and storm drains and water leaks will be repaired along two blocks of Clara (from Napoleon to Cadiz) and one adjacent block of Jena, said Robert Mendoza, New Orleans director of Public Works, at a small town-hall meeting Tuesday night. The construction of a major box canal underneath Napoleon Avenue this summer will hamper ambulance service to the hospital, so the city requested and received federal tax money to improve the secondary routes to the hospital beforehand, he said. “Its main goal is to provide secondary access to the Oschner emergency room and parking when Napoleon shuts down,” Mendoza said of the project. The project is technically known as the Freret-Napoleon project, a confusing misnomer because both Napoleon and Freret are scheduled for significant work in the coming months.
