News Roundup

Bike Path Will Link Xavier, Lakefront: Work May Be Finished In About 6 Months

Times-Picayune
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
By Leslie Williams

This summer, if all goes according to schedule, bicyclists will be able to pedal from the Xavier University area to the Lakefront along a mostly protected route.

The creation of a 4.6-mile hybrid bike path is under way. And the $1.4 million project should be completed in about six or seven months, said Brandon Adams, a landscape architect who completed the design and construction drawings.

The Wisner Bike Path stretches from the intersection of Lafitte Street and North Jefferson Davis Parkway, along the Bayou St. John side of City Park, to Beauregard Avenue and Lakeshore Drive.

“This project will be an important addition to our city and will greatly enhance the quality of life for our youth and families,” Mayor Ray Nagin said. “Connecting the Xavier community with the Lakefront will enhance recreational opportunities and will create a safe place for walkers, bikers and runners. As we reach the tipping point of our recovery, we will undertake projects in nearly every community to create a stronger, smarter and better New Orleans.”

The initiative, delayed by Hurricane Katrina, includes a mix of 10-foot-wide concrete paths and existing roads marked with bicycle symbols and bike-route signs.

A 1.7-mile concrete path will be constructed between Wisner Boulevard and the bayou from Milton Street to Robert E. Lee Boulevard. And a two-block concrete path will be placed between Esplanade Avenue and West Moss Street.

The streets posted with signs and symbols informing motorists that they are sharing a lane with cyclists include Moss, Lelong Drive, Golf Drive and Zachary Taylor Drive, Beauregard, and Lakeshore Drive.

Some of those streets wind through City Park. And “for much of the ride, cyclists will be able to travel from Lake Pontchartrain to City Park without having to deal with regular traffic,” said Bao Vu, a project manager for the city’s department of Public Works, which is monitoring the progress of the project financed with state and federal money as well as a grant from the Wisner Foundation.

Once completed, the concrete segment of the Wisner route will be among the city’s major paved off-street bike infrastructure, joining the 1.79-mile Mississippi River Levee path and the 1.38-mile West End path, said Jennifer Ruley, a bicycle and pedestrian engineer with the Louisiana Public Health Institute.

The river end of the path will link to the nearly mile-long bike path in the median of the Jefferson Davis Parkway, which flows into the Xavier University area.

“Even though we got water on part of the site (due to Katrina-related flooding), we did not have to make any changes (to the 4-year-old design plans) because there was no significant erosion,” Adams said.

MDI Construction, a Harahan limited liability company that was the low bidder, began work Jan. 7 and so far has been moving equipment to the site, stockpiling sand and stone there, pruning trees and staking the path, Adams said. A unique thing about the path is that it meanders through live oaks and along Bayou St. John, he said.