roadwork.nola.gov
Central City Group B
A swath of Central City will see repairs to its streets and sidewalks, from basic repaving to the total replacement of sewerage, water and drainage lines and reconstruction of the streets and sidewalks. The work is scheduled for January 2022 to January 2023.
The project is under the Sewerage & Water Board and Department of Public Works’ Joint Infrastructure Program, which oversees the implementation of more than $2 billion of federal funding allocated for hundreds of miles of road repair.
The $18.4 million Central City Group B project covers a roughly triangular area from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Washington Avenue to St. Charles Avenue, bounded by Toledano Street and MLK Boulevard. GreenPoint Engineering will be in charge of the design work for the project, while Fleming Construction LLC will handle construction.
Work is set to start Monday (Jan. 3), weather permitting, according to Christopher Lloyd, an outreach specialist for Roadwork NOLA. It will begin with concrete work in the 2800 to 3200 blocks of Carondelet Street.
“Throughout January, the project will continue working on the 2800-3200 blocks of Baronne Street, 2800-3200 blocks of Danneel Street, 2800-3200 blocks of S. Saratoga Street and the 2800-3200 blocks of Loyola Avenue,” Lloyd said in an email. A Roadwork NOLA timeline projects that the repairs will take a year to complete.
The Office of Neighborhood Engagement and Roadwork NOLA hosted a public meeting to discuss the construction on Tuesday (Dec. 28) at the Allie Mae Williams Multi-Service Center on Jackson Avenue. Five community residents attended the meeting, Lloyd said.
The presentation included safety guidelines that will be used at construction sites to prevent the spread of Covid-19 — hand-washing stations, maintaining social distance between workers and reporting of all new Covid cases. It also announced that, moving forward, all progress meetings will be held online, as they were through much of the pandemic.
Tuesday’s meeting was scheduled and advertised before the omicron variant caused a surge in cases, Lloyd said, adding that all safety protocols were followed.
Regular construction hours will be Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. In the case of water shutoffs, the city will notify affected residents 48 hours before full waterline closures and 24 hours before test closures.
The work will also include repairs to sidewalks that may have already gotten new Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant curb ramps. In those cases, while the curb ramp was repaired or added, the sidewalk is still in need of repairs to make the block fully accessible.
Many blocks in this area will receive new sidewalks, curb cuts, fresh asphalt and concrete in the roads. Clio Street from Carondelet to Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard and Sixth Street from South Liberty to LaSalle will see full reconstruction.
Some of the streets in the project area are already under reconstruction, such as the DPW’s work on Martin Luther King from St. Charles to South Claiborne, which is out for contract bids, according to Lloyd, or are a part of the overlapping Central City Group A project
For updates and more information, email roadwork@nola.gov or call 504-658-ROAD (7623). Information is also available on roadwork.nola.gov and @roadworkNOLA on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social media sites.
Reporter Jesse Baum can be reached at jesse.blacktree@gmail.com.
That’s great news that the city will focus on the streets in Central City. Of course, the work that began two months ago or earlier throughout uptown remains incomplete. We are unable to park cars near our homes, we track sand and muck into our homes daily, the streets are riddled with deep holes and sand replacing the previous potholes, but now barricades and heavy equipment prevent driving unless we’re willing to drive the wrong way down one-way streets. In the 66 years I’ve lived in New Orleans, I cannot recall any major set of street projects handed in such a disorganized, unannounced and haphazard fashion with no apparent deadlines for any streets. The sidewalks by my home had disability ramps installed 3 years ago, and still the city ripped out the existing corners and replaced what was not broken. Much of the construction remains unfinished, and rather than starting even more projects, perhaps completing even some of the current projects would be far more welcomed by the taxpayers of the city. But then we appear to have no voice in this process.
David Katner
I am happy that streets in New Orleans are being repaired. I am not happy that more work is being planned while many current street repairs sites are abandoned/ delayed. In Lakeview, there are dozens of unfinished street repairs abandoned for months. Do not start new street projects before the current, unfinished jobs are complete.