NolaCycle is a project aimed to create a high quality cycling map of New Orleans. Cycling maps include information beyond just streets and their names that benefits cyclists. In our map, we highlight the pavement quality, car travel speed, lane width, and special caution areas (busy intersections, man-eating potholes, or high accident areas). Volunteers help to collect this data by attending mapping events.
The information is then digitized to make a map of the data we collected to help cyclists - young, old, local, and tourist alike - navigate New Orleans.

Check out the blog for updates on the project, ways to get involved, and volunteer mapping events!

If you have questions, feel free to make a public comment on the blog entry or e-mail us directly at info@nolacycle.com.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Newly repaved Uptown Roads

The T-P did an article today about the logic of repaving in New Orleans and included a handy map of some newly repaved roads in Uptown. Thought you guys might be interested in looking that this.


"If you do that fairly regularly, it's a cheaper way to maintain the streets," Mendoza said.

Residents of three Uptown neighborhoods recently began to feel the effects of Mendoza's preferred method as construction crews worked block by block in small sections of town, patching minor damage and pouring new asphalt.

While the project in the St. Mary area included short portions of just two streets, scores of blocks covering a total of 1¤3/4 miles in the Irish Channel and West Riverside neighborhoods got a facelift.

Mendoza said the city consulted with Entergy New Orleans and the Sewerage & Water Board to make sure that streets slated for smoothing weren't scheduled to be dug up during the next several years for routine maintenance of utility or drainage lines.

The chosen streets were good candidates for the city's first stab at neighborhood-wide street rehabilitation because they didn't flood in Hurricane Katrina, meaning damage to subsurface utilities was not as great as in swamped areas.

Together, the street projects cost about $2.5 million, financed by bonds sold in 2005, city records show. The city hired MWH Inc. as the consulting engineer and Boh Brothers Construction Co. as the contractor for all three jobs.

While Mendoza hailed the projects as a success, it's unlikely the systematic restoration process will be replicated in other neighborhoods anytime soon.

Street repairs are on hold in most areas that flooded because the S&WB and Entergy haven't finished their repairs, he said.

"We can't do these everywhere because there are some places where the Sewerage & Water Board has major repairs that need to be done, or where Entergy still needs to convert the gas lines," Mendoza said."

3 comments:

  1. I'm glad the City is repaving Laurel. If you're cycling between Audubon Park and the Garden District, Laurel St is a far safer alternative than St. Charles Ave, Magazine or Tchoupitoulas...

    Larry
    RideTHISbike.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now only if they're finish the job and repave Laurel between Napoleon and Washington we'd have a really nice alternative to Magazine in both directions.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unless the coming Obama stimulus plan coughs up new money to resurface streets in New Orleans, it will be a few years before that happens.

    Would you be open to including mass transit routes and stops on the NOLA Cycle Maps as well as a sketch that shows how to secure a bicycle on the bus bike racks currently on mass transit buses in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish?

    Given the poor quality of New Orleans area streets and the many water crossings separating sections of the metro area, combining mass transit and cycling would make it much easier, safer and faster to traverse the area via bicycle.

    Regards,
    Larry Lagarde
    RideTHISbike.com

    ReplyDelete