A third option: Move Old Metairie trains to the Westbank and not to Hollygrove

3rd February 2014   ·   0 Comments

By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer

The DOTD proposal to redirect most local commercial train traffic through the predominantly African-American Orleans community of Hollygrove from its current route crossing 1-10 and the mostly Caucasian precincts of Old Metairie has raised specters of environmental racism.

Passions at the prospect of hazardous fuel cars multiplying through the poor neighborhoods of Orleans’ Mid-City exploded at a community meeting last month. Jeffersonians countered that the current “Back Belt” track dips the roadways of both Airline Dr. and I-10, which flood in storms and submerge key evacuation routes. And, the Metairie Rd. motorists pointed out, having trains regularly block one of the most trafficked streets in the metro area several times a day was enough of a reason to seek an alternative.

What if both sides could move virtually all the trains out of their respective neighborhoods, and Plaquemines Parish could get a Mississippi River Bridge out of the deal? Far from too good to be true, community activist Drew Ward maintained to The Louisiana Weekly that the State Department of Transportation and Development had just explored just this solution, and ignored it. DOTD worried that too many trains along the Mississippi River would impact tourists in the French Quarter, but there was another alternative. Redirect trains to the West Bank, and build a bridge across the River from Belle Chase, long a goal of Plaquemines and St. Bernard Parish leaders.

According to Ward, Plaque­mines Parish President Billy Nungesser has already expressed interest in the West Bank proposal, and when new tolls on a new bridge are factored in, the cost to the Transportation trust fund may amount to less than Hollygrove plan. And certainly ridding the residential East Bank of HAZMAT/chemical trains would be healthier for most residents of Orleans and Jefferson.

As Ward explained, “DOTD’s New Orleans Rail Gateway improvement project originally considered three options including moving all traffic to the existing ‘Front Belt’ lines adjacent the Mississippi River currently limited only to that traffic servicing the Port of New Orleans. Early in their study process, DOTD representatives state that those original three alternative routes had been cut down to the two ‘Back Belt’ [Old Metairie] and ‘Middle Belt’ [Hollygrove] alternatives, stating that the ‘Front Belt’ was tossed out as it could cause inconvenience to tourists, expressing concern that shifting all traffic onto the Front Belt’s riverfront lines would potentially cause undue interruptions to the many tourist activities that occur in and around the French Quarter, citing mainly concern for safety issues and delays due to foot-traffic crossing the rail lines en route to riverfront attractions.”

Forget, Ward maintained that New Orleans’ riverfront has always been an area of intermingling tourists and rail traffic and that mutually safe and efficient traffic flows had been addressed quite successfully and cheaply in the past. “In considering DOTD’s reasoning for culling a list of three potential alternatives immediately down to two and for all intents and purposes, currently down to only the one, it’s difficult not to wonder why there hasn’t been a fourth alternative in consideration this whole time.”

Ward contended that the single biggest detail that is being left out of this overall dialogue (and something DOTD volunteered to the audience at a recent community meeting) was that 70 percent of current and future trains using the tracks on the East Bank never even stop in New Orleans at all. “What that means is that this debate we’re having over which Eastbank belt to use shouldn’t even be the discussion at all, because the first and most important fact here is that we shouldn’t be running that 70 percent of rail traffic through New Orleans or East Jeff in the first place.”

Since only 30 percent of rail traffic through the metro area actually has business in – and thus a purpose for rolling through – New Orleans, and since this traffic is all going to the port, that means it needs to be on the Front Belt. “In fact, not only does it need to BE on the Front Belt, it already IS on the Front Belt,” he said, ironically. None of it goes through Old Metairie nor Hollygrove currently. Instead, the remaining 70 percent could avoid the residential core of the New Orleans Metro, and still provide better road/evacuation links for Plaquemines Parish. Trains and interstate merged together with an updated version of the original I-410 Southern Loop.

Originally, Ward outlined, “Interstate 410 was supposed to originally loop south from I-10 near LaPlace, cut 20 or so miles to the south of the Westbank Expwy, and finally connect back up with I-10 again east of the City just south of the Rigolettes. Of course, this didn’t end up happening, or at least not all the way. Both termini of the roadway were constructed as well as one of its two required Mississippi River bridge crossings. Today those two chunks are I-310 and I-510. Back in the late 70′s, the remainder of the project was withdrawn from the federal system at the request of Gov. Edwards who had the 410’s authorization and mileage transferred to what would eventually become I-49 between Opelousas & Shreve­port.”

“Ironically, it could very well be I-49 South that today makes the 410 a necessary route for a number of reasons. Just as I-49 South has been planned with cost in mind by reusing and upgrading existing near-interstate grade roadways, this new 410 could do just the same. In looking at traffic patterns, where residential and industrial development have occurred and are likely to occur going forward, and the emergency evacuation needs and transportation requirements of the metro area today, a similar but somewhat abbreviated & lower-cost route would be more desirable than the original.”

“That route just happens to follow another existing roadway that is in many places already a controlled-access route approaching minimum interstate standards. The route I propose would split off of I-49 at Avondale along existing Lapalco Blvd, continue along Lapalco crossing the Harvey Canal and then turning southward into Plaquemines where it would loop through Belle Chasse and cross the river into Chalmette, meeting the existing terminus of I-510.”

“That route takes care of all the bypass and evacuation requirements we would likely have for some decades to come. It would also drastically reduce the traffic loads and congestion on the existing Expressway, the CCC Bridge, and especially on those portions of the Expressway and I-10 between the river and Metairie and the Causeway and the I-10/610 merger east of the city. It of course also opens up much of West Jeff, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard to a massive potential for industrial and residential development.

And, here the West Bank rail lines, already for the most part in place, would tie at this new Mississippi Crossing. The Norfolk Southern (the main railroad pushing for Gateway improvements at Hollygrove) currently maintains tracks on this portion of the West Bank. A much less intrusive connector through mostly industrial parks could intersect these track lines with a new Mississippi River bridge. Rail and Road together would allow the state to tap a new source of intermodal federal transportation funds. The local match for constructing this more modern version of The Huey P. Long Bridge could come from re-directing the existing toll on automobiles currently paid daily by motorists taking the Chalmette/Belle Chase Ferry.

Since “the reason DOTD never even entertained a Westbank rail alternative is fear of construction costs for a new Mississippi River Bridge,” Ward noted, merging the existing toll on cars with intermodal funds for trains could solve the cost problem of a new bridge.

According to Greg Shafer, Vice President of Parsons Bridge & Tunnel and chief engineer for the Audubon (Mississippi Bridge) project, a combination road & rail crossing between Belle Chasse & Chalmette is possible. Moreover, while a new intermodal bridge would cost $1 billion, the proposed rail-only project, either the (Old Metairie) Back Belt or the (Hollygrove) Middle Belt are estimated to cost approximately $770 million each. Said Ward, “According to DOTD, neither of those potential $770 million price tags are currently funded nor do they have any idea when and how they ever will be.”

“This true intermodal transportation project could provide not only a very valuable highway connection but connecting several strategic rail assets and filling in quite a few of the cargo transport gaps that exist in the area (especially in regard to servicing the important energy and seafood assets in the far reaches of our parishes.” Its function as a much needed emergency evacuation route should open up additional funding opportunities from FEMA. “Imagine that… modern New Orleans ideally configured to grow its port and transportation sectors and to handle expanded traffic for decades to come. And, to do so without exposing its residents to the dangers of HAZMAT (Hazardous Materials) cargo shipments rolling through their back yards day in and day out. In fact, the only remaining portion of the existing Back/Middle Belt network would be those rails accessing the port via the front line, and the connector running along I-10 linking Amtrak passenger trains with the main trunk lines and the Union Passenger Terminal downtown.”

“Between the relocation of 70 percent of rail traffic, almost all HAZMAT rail shipments, the bulk of north-south & east-west automobile traffic from I-10/610, and every single 18-wheeler and hazardous materials carrying truck currently passing through our city to the new intermodal bypass routes, the New Orleans metro area is likely to see the biggest reduction in air pollution ever experienced by a major metropolis. Imagine the joy of smelling the flowers and foods of our city instead of the exhaust fumes and mystery chemical odors we normally encounter on a daily if not hourly basis.”

In fact, the plan solves some problems, particularly when it comes to extending the St. Claude Street car to Poland Ave. and the Ninth Ward. “Several current or proposed local transit improvements have been halted for years due to issues with and the non-cooperation of local freight railways.

“The future Loyola/­Ram­part/­St. Claude streetcar line is currently only planned to Press Street due to the unwillingness of Norfolk Southern to either elevate its tracks crossing that busy street or to allow the streetcar to cross that line and continue downriver. “With those NS lines removed from the mix,” Ward stated, “the St. Claude line could continue not only past Press Street further into the Bywater, but again past the next set of lines and into the Lower 9th Ward and even on across the parish line into Chalmette where it could finally serve as a viable park-and-ride commuter option for all those residents of St. Bernard traveling to and from the city’s center every day. This of course provides the added benefit of drastically reducing vehicular traffic along St. Claude itself, further enhancing the livability of this important rising corridor.”

“Similar benefits shall be available elsewhere in town such as reconnecting Tchoupitoulas to its original continuation along Leake Ave & River Rd, providing a valuable commuting path for drivers and cyclists accessing the French Quarter and allowing the restoration of the Claiborne Corridor and the removal of the existing elevated portions of I-10 along this route.”

This article originally published in the February 3, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.