New Orleans Debates Highway Removal

"On the one hand, the city could choose to rebuild its aging structure at a likely cost of tens of millions of dollars. On the other, it could demolish a 2.2-mile stretch of the road, replacing it with a planted boulevard." The decision will make a big difference to the way and citizens move around the city in the future.

"Demolishing the Claiborne Expressway, which runs just north of the French Quarter, could have a real effect in encouraging redevelopment of some of the city's less-wealthy and sometimes forgotten areas," according to Jeffrey Schwartz, founder of a transportation advocacy group called Transport for NOLA and the head of the Broad Community Connections Organization.

"Removing the highway and replacing it with a boulevard would increase travel times for those now using the highway by between three to six minutes, but little else would change for the average driver. For the pedestrian, however, taking the highway out would mean a whole new way of thinking about the urban environment in New Orleans," reports Yonah Freemark.