Jean-Paul Villere
Dave Thomas brought us the drive thru. The late founder of the fast food chain Wendy’s — beyond being the charismatic face of the company up until his death — in the fledgling days of the square-pattied empire devised a way for car-loving Americans across the country to stay put and nosh ever more quickly. (In-N-Out and Jack in the Box might stake earlier claims to the innovation, but find me one of those in the only metro area that matters.) It revolutionized commerce. I can tell you from my days in a green apron, drive thru locations easily produce two to three times the revenue of locations without this 20th century gift. As such, it employs more people and creates a better tax base too. All good things, right? Except when it comes to pollution and traffic congestion, those tick up as well. Faster, reliable and more often: the American way, no? Viagara, anyone?
In my opinion the biggest and most important debate in the New Orleans metro area nowadays which will impact our 21st century status that you may or may not have even heard of is: what’s to be done with this Claiborne Expressway? And for those that have expressed the two opposing sides, thus far there are some fiery furnaces glowing with epigrammatic fury. Everything from “You guys are idiots if you want to tear down an interstate” to “Fuck the trucks,” the latter being my personal fave. But that’s also where I stand. Loss of the interstate would be a good thing, and I love the expressway. I slingshot around Downtown from Uptown to Marigny with the best of them, and my drive time is totally cut in half by not traversing N Rampart across Canal and Poydras. But so what?
Just because you can get somewhere faster doesn’t mean you should. We do have stop signs and speed limits, right? So we already as a society regulate ourselves in terms of safety and use of time to plan for distance and schedule accordingly. And the road-ectomy proposed would just mean more planning, and more of a time suck. So what? So you update your social media statuses (stati?) sooner? I mean, what is anyone really doing with all that saved time but filling it up with other distraction? Why not add more time to your travel log and in doing so reveal a part of our dear city that for decades has been choking on the exhaust of the bypassing millions in the shadows of massive concrete monoliths now nearing the end of their useful life? I dare you.
Is it a gamble? Sure. But honestly, what do we have to lose? Travel time? Better, what would we stand to gain? One of the reasons proposed to keep the expressway is the notion that developers may swoop in and gasp! develop. Is that not better than the atrophied archives that are the crumbling, neglected structures of yesteryear flanking the freeway now? And with historic preservation at an all time level of visibility and voice, any overlays or developments stand a great chance being kept in check. No razing of any mid 19th century center halls in place of another Walgreens, methinks. Maybe we’ll even get a restored single screen movie theater out of the deal, and maybe not. The beauty of it is, anything can happen.
At the high-dollar toll through New York City this summer (another form of drive thru) I think I spent $10.75 to pass. The wrinkled, blue latex gloved attendant quizzed me somewhat sternly as I gathered my fare “What kind of fruit is that?” Unaccustomed to what I would consider to be a southern exchange of pseudo pleasantries from a blue collar city of cities worker I paused and realized she was peering at my center console where I had about 2 dozen figs resting, purple and bulbous. I said “These are figs from my yard in New Orleans.” She went on about how she hadn’t had fresh figs in years and didn’t have a yard. So I of course offered up 3 of 4, but as I drove away, as much as I may have brightened her day, I felt a certain sadness. No yard? No figs? No thanks.
We can learn to live without the Claiborne Expressway, and we should too.
Jean-Paul Villere is the owner of Villere Realty and Du Mois Gallery on Freret Street and a married father of four girls. In addition to his Wednesday column at UptownMessenger.com, he also shares his family’s adventures sometimes via pedicab or bicycle on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Jean-Paul,
Two thoughts:
1) Do you really think drive-through restaurants encourage people to to drive? Unless you believe that the presence of the drive-through is a major determining factor in people buying fast food, the more likely alternative is that people either eat-in or stop by to grab a to-go order, neither of which eliminate driving to the fast food place to begin with. What drive-through windows do is lessen the need for additional parking, and that’s a net positive in my view.
2) What do we have to lose by tearing out the expressway? Well, money for starters. Tearing it out would be extremely expensive and will require reworking surrounding roads to minimize the traffic impact (basic maintenance costs on the expressway are a valid point of comparison, but nobody is planning a full rehab anytime soon). Secondly, one can argue that the travel time issues are not as important as the likely benefits, but you sound flippant when you just say “so what.” Traffic mobility matters a great deal.
Owen –
1) I absolutely think drive thru anything – banks or whatever – encourage people to drive. Case in point, the new Cap One at Napoleon and St Ch. There is NO lobby; you must drive. And if you ride up on your bicycle, their policy is not to serve you.
2) I agree mobility matters, and I think a smart design may garner both that and a rejuvenation. For example, when a fire truck speeds down Canal St it does so in the streetcar lane. Why wouldn’t a similar design work in a reborn Claiborne?
Jean-Paul,
Actually, the new Capital One at Napoleon and St. Charles was about consolidating drive-up business — they shut down the drive-through banking lanes at the Capital One at Foucher and St. Charles at the same time they opened that branch. However, unless the place you want to go is fairly nearby to you, you’re going to drive whether there’s a drive-through or not, right?
As for North Claiborne, I still think you’re not addressing the issue of expense. We can’t repave our roads right now. We don’t have hundreds of millions to tear down the expressway and revamp both it and a half-dozen other major surface arteries. And if we did have that money, there would be far better ways to spend it.
Sure, you could always claim that just maybe, if we managed things just right and spend an indeterminate amount of money, we might be able to get rid of a freeway/overpass/exit/etc and greatly minimize traffic impacts, but that’s speculating with a lot of cash that we don’t have the luxury of gambling with. It also just might be flat out wrong — there’s a lot of traffic coming through the expressway and a lot of people have grown to rely on it. It would be a big middle finger to places line New Orleans East to rip it out.
I would like a slo-mo way around town – EXCEPT when there is an evacuation – then I would like to drive like a bat out of hell, on that expressway.
Bravo.
Ya know, before Emperor Landrieu tears out major highways and builds a new city hall, I wish the focus were on fixing the water system and the streets. These are used everyday by everybody.
Why does everything have to be “about the money”? When the elevated road was put in, it destroyed a neighborhood. I’m aware you can never go back, but you sure as heck can make amends. I always thought the government was supposed to serve the people. Last time I checked it was my tax money they were misspending. There are many ways to work around upending the traffic. Seriously, its GOT to go.
James Ball,
First off, I disagree with the premise that the expressway destroyed the surrounding neighborhood. A very negative factor? Definitely. The primary source of its decline? Probably not. The neighborhoods abutting South Claiborne, at least before you approach the universities, are no better. They managed to decline without an elevated expressway.
Secondly, this does have to be about money because we don’t have an infinite amount of it and we desperately need improvements to basis infrastructure and roads. It’s not going to do anybody any good if we practically bankrupt the city trying to “make amends” for perceived planning mistakes.