City Provides 2016 End of the Year Update on Infrastructure Improvements
NEW ORLEANS – Today, Mayor Mitch Landrieu and officials
from the New Orleans Department of Public Works (DPW) and the Sewerage &
Water Board of New Orleans (S&WB) highlighted the City’s 2016 integrated
infrastructure accomplishments.
“Improving New
Orleans aging infrastructure is a major priority, and in 2016 we had a
breakthrough year,” Mayor Mitch Landrieu said. “Hundreds of millions of
dollars in major capital infrastructure improvements are hitting our streets
that will improve our roads, water and sewer systems in neighborhoods across
the city. With all of this work now fully coordinated, we are working harder
than ever to build a stronger, more resilient city as we approach New Orleans’
300th anniversary in 2018.”
Cedric Grant,
Executive Director of S&WB, said, “We are now positioned to not only repair our aging
infrastructure, but also build a more resilient system that can handle the
challenges of the future. The work we are doing is unprecedented in our City’s
history. We have made great strides this year and look forward to accomplishing
even more in 2017 and years to come.”
SECURED OVER $2
BILLION FEMA SETTLEMENT
The City secured
the final $1.2 billion in recovery funds from FEMA to repair Hurricane
Katrina-related damage to New Orleans’ roadways and subsurface infrastructure,
including water, sewer and drainage pipes. This brings the total to over $2
billion secured under the Landrieu Administration for roads and subsurface
infrastructure.
UNPRECEDENTED
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM
The City and
S&WB are working together to implement an unprecedented program to restore
the City’s damaged infrastructure. Using a combination of local and federal
funds, this program will be the most comprehensive that the region has seen in
a generation. Work will include more than 200 individual projects and consist
of repairing all or portions of about 400 miles of roadway. There will be
several types of construction: Full Depth Reconstruction; Patch,
Mill and Overlay; Patch Concrete; Incidental Road Repairs; Bridges; Non-Paving Incidentals and Streetscapes.
LAUNCHED REVAMPED
ROADWORK.NOLA.GOV ONLINE TOOL
This year, the City
of New Orleans launched a revamped roadwork.nola.gov online tool, allowing residents to search
by their address to get block-by-block details on planned, active and completed
infrastructure improvements across the city. The roadwork.nola.gov web site shows ongoing coordination on
road, water, sewer and drainage construction by DPW and S&WB. The City will
update projects bi-monthly, providing residents with the most accurate view of
infrastructure improvements occurring across New Orleans.
PUBLIC WORKS
Successes
Achieved in 2016
DPW
completed a total of 25 roadway projects in 2016, with a total funding
investment of over $44 million. Included in these projects were three Paths to
Progress projects, four other roadway projects, three streetscape projects, seven
bikeway projects and three FEMA-funded Recovery Roads projects. This work
resulted in over 15 miles of newly paved streets and an additional 4.48 miles
of bikeways.
DPW also completed
the following work in 2016:
- Filled over 114,876 potholes;
- Cleaned over 7,000 drainage catch basins and over 76 miles of drain
lines;
- Inspected and assessed the condition of over 82 miles of drain lines;
- Installed over 5,100 new permanent traffic signs and over 1,133 new
permanent street name signs;
- Repaired over 10,000 streetlight outages (over 99 percent of the
city’s streetlights are operational); and
- Installed over 545 LED streetlights (over 42,000 of the City’s
streetlights are now LEDs representing 78 percent of the city’s streetlight
system).
Looking Forward
to 2017
The City is
scheduled to start design on at least 125 projects and begin at least $400
million worth of new construction work by May 1, 2018. Included in these
projects are Full Depth Reconstruction, Patch,
Mill and Overlay, Patch Concrete, Incidental Road Repairs, Bridges, Non-Paving Incidentals and Streetscapes.
Expanding
Bikeways
Before Hurricane
Katrina, New Orleans had fewer than five miles of designated bikeways. With a
focus on creating a resilient City, New Orleans now has over 100 miles of
bikeways. The quality, convenience, and choices in bike facilities in New
Orleans continue to improve. The City is continuing to work with a broad
coalition of partners including the Regional Planning Commission, Louisiana
Department of Transportation and Development, Bike Easy, and Entergy to make
New Orleans more bicycle friendly.
SEWERAGE AND
WATER BOARD
Successes
Achieved in 2016
S&WB completed
over 29,000 work orders and 24,000 service requests in 2016. This includes over
8,100 emergency requests such as sewer overflows and customers without water.
The City also passed a drainage renewal millage of 4.46 mills. Proceeds from
the drainage millage fund 30 percent of the upkeep and operations of drainage
pumps and canals which keep New Orleans’ streets dry after storms. The drainage
millage renewal will last for 30 years.
S&WB completed
the following work in 2016:
- Completely
repaired 1,132 sewer mains, 1,092 water mains, 9,043 water service repairs, 682
hydrants and 850 valves;
- S&WB staff
performed preventive maintenance by cleaning 781,519 feet of sewer main, inspecting
6,504 sewer manholes, 854,792 feet of sewer main, 1,453 water vales and 4,647
hydrants.
Looking Forward
to 2017
In 2017, the City
and the S&WB is scheduled to begin construction on $400 million worth of
capital improvements, including a number of important water, sewer and drainage
projects. Highlights include: Major improvements to the S&WB’s power
generation system, Oak Street Pump Station retrofit, water and sewer system
line replacements, water point repairs, a wetlands assimilation projects,
sludge dryer project, drainage canal improvements and drainage pumping
projects.
FIX MY STREETS
FINANCING WORKING GROUP
To help find
solutions to the City of New Orleans’ long-term infrastructure needs, Mayor
Landrieu established a working group comprised of City leaders, residents and
subject matter experts charged with developing recommendations about how the
City can pay for interior street repairs. This group of subject matter experts
have expertise in civil engineering, business, construction, finance, banking,
transportation and community engagement. In 2016, the Fix My Streets Working group met 5 times and completed an
assessment of financing options to address the City’s long-term infrastructure
needs.
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