On April 4, the City of New Orleans, businesses and community members celebrated completion of the Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. Streetscape Project in Central City. Designed with extensive feedback from the local merchants association, the project scope included the following:
- Removing part of the neutral ground between Felicity Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard;
- Installing wider pedestrian refuges at intersections;
- Repairing damaged sidewalks;
- Installing new Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant curb ramps at intersections;
- Restriping the roadway from two travel lanes and a parking lane to one travel lane, bike lane and a parking lane in each direction; Striping new high visibility crosswalks and a bike lane;
- Improving rain gardens, planting landscaping and tree cuts; and
- Repaving the asphalt roadway.
The $1.85M project, which was designed to revitalize the area, was funded through a Disaster-Community Development Block Grant. Construction began in August 2016 and was completed on time and within budget. Future amenities to the corridor include installing new iron garbage cans and bike racks.
The intersection of Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. and Martin Luther King. Jr. Blvd. is home to one of the new bike share stations.
