Construction officially got underway Tuesday (March 25) on New Orleans’ long-awaited Lafitte Greenway Bicycle and Pedestrian Path, an idea some eight years in the making. But officials warned that much work remains to make the project a success.
“This is one of those city-wide transformation projects,” Mayor Mitch Landrieu said at a groundbreaking event, flanked by representatives from a half-dozen government agencies and community groups that have contributed to the park’s development.
The 2.6 mile pathway will stretch along a vacant rail corridor from City Park to Armstrong Park, connecting six historic neighborhoods from Bayou St. John and Mid-City down to the French Quarter. The project’s $9.1 million first phase will include a paved bike path, landscaping, lighting and ball fields on a patch of property adjacent to the Lafitte housing development near Claiborne Avenue.
The first phase is scheduled to be completed in late winter 2015.
The project — funded entirely with federal disaster recovery grants, according to the city — will add a major piece of recreational infrastructure and possibly serve as a bicycle commuter corridor. But the city does not yet have a plan for security or maintenance of the new park.
Landrieu and other officials touted the corridor’s potential to connect diverse neighborhoods. But cyclists could find themselves targets as they make their way through some areas that have historically struggled with high crime rates, particularly if they travel the park at night.
The park will likely be open from dawn to dusk, but its nature as an open bike path means commuters may ignore the official operating hours.
Deputy Mayor Cedric Grant and Councilwoman Susan Guidry, acknowledged in interviews the potential for security issues, and said that a future management board run by community representatives would be tasked with brainstorming security ideas.
Guidry, who heads the council’s Public Safety Committee, said such ideas might include cameras, additional lighting, and geographic signage that will help potential 911 callers give first-responders their location.
It also remains to be seen exactly how the park will be maintained. The New Orleans Recreation Department is “at capacity,” Grant said, so private individuals and entities will have to step up to raise money and help with keeping it clean and maintained.
Guidry was optimistic that the community would make this “perpetual” project a success.
The Friends of Lafitte Corridor, a well-organized community group, is already in place, and politicians have shown they are highly motivated to make the project a success.
The project faced long odds when it was first conceived, Grant said. The soil, much of which was contaminated with benzene, had to be remediated. Property had to be purchased. Cooperation between several government agencies had to be coordinated.
The Greenway has been a citizen led project from the start, Landrieu said, and that will help ensure that it’s a success.
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