The first phase of lane closures on Soutjh Broad Street is expected to detour traffic around the Gravier Street intersection until Tuesday, Nov. 15. (map via City of New Orleans)
The Broad Street route between Uptown and Mid-City will be affected for the next month by a series of lane closures in three phases as part of an ongoing Gravier Street reconstruction project, New Orleans city officials announced.
Drivers got the first taste of the project this weekend, when the downtown-bound lanes of South Broad closed just past the overpass, creating a detour onto Poydras and South Galvez streets for underground drainage work. That phase is expected to continue through today (Monday, Nov. 14) into early Tuesday morning, according to an announcement from Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s office.
From Tuesday until Dec. 12, each side of South Broad will be restricted to a single travel lane around Gravier Street, the announcement states. The inside lanes will be closed and traffic will use the outside lanes until Nov. 28, then workers will reopen the inside lanes and close the outside lanes until Dec. 12, the announcement states. During the December portion, Gravier Street traffic will also be detoured around the Broad Street intersection.
“At this time, the Gravier Street reconstruction project (South Galvez Street to South Broad Street) is approximately 55 percent complete and on schedule to be completed in early 2017,” the announcement reads. “The full scope of work includes removing and replacing underground water, sewer and drainage lines, repaving the roadway, installing new sidewalks and ADA-compliant curb ramps at intersections.”
For more details and maps of the expected work, see the full announcement from the mayor’s office.
Broad Street? Why is it labeled Broad Avenue on the map? Evidently, I need an education here . . . . . Please explain.
Well, good question. For what it’s worth, the mayor’s office was referring to it as “South Broad Street” as well — which you can see in the quoted material.
Now that I look, Google Maps (the source for the map included in the news release) label South Broad as “S. Broad Ave” and North Broad as “N. Broad St.”
The only reference I can find to this discrepancy in a cursory search is a footnote in a 2013 book on the city by Karl Seider, who writes, “On maps, the street is named Broad Avenue but residents refer to it as Broad Street.”
It looks like city government frequently uses “South Broad Street” — all the nola.gov websites give that as the address for NOPD headquarters, traffic court, etc.
But then, not everyone agrees with how the city does things.
ha ha ha I guess I should have figured this one out myself. Thanks for the research.