New Orleans Makes Push for Accessibility Improvements Ahead of Super Bowl

The city of New Orleans is turning its focus to making the entire city more walkable and accessible in preparation for hosting the Super Bowl in February, reports Patrick Sisson in an article in Fast Company.

The city, state, and local business groups are managing approximately 550 infrastructure projects, said Michael Hecht, CEO of Greater New Orleans, the local economic development organization. Altogether, roughly two dozen organizations aim to do approximately $60 million of work in the next five months, which include upgrading sidewalks, roads, and rights of way.

While the historic city evokes images of picturesque streets mobbed with pedestrians and vibrant storefronts, the city’s infrastructure can pose serious mobility challenges for people with mobility impairments. “It’s also difficult to update, since there are so many historic preservation requirements to use cobblestones or other traditional paving materials.” 

Just three of the city’s 54 historic streetcars are ADA compliant, Sisson adds. A $5.5 million federal grant to study potential accessibility improvements could change that.

For New Orleans, the Super Bowl could be a catalyst for durable improvements. According to Michael Hecht, CEO of economic development organization Greater New Orleans, “The Super Bowl effort is serving as a forcing function to help us modernize New Orleans, and in that sense, it’s going to be very productive for us.”