New Orleans, Louisiana

Infrastructure

Government

New Orleans has a mayor-council government. The city council consists of five councilmembers that are elected by district and two at large councilmembers. Mayor C. Ray Nagin, Jr. was elected in May 2002.

Related Topics:
Mayor-council government - C. Ray Nagin, Jr.

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The New Orleans Police Department provides professional police services to the public in order to maintain order and protect life and property. The Orleans Parish civil sheriff's employees serve (deliver) papers involving lawsuits. The Criminal Sheriff's department maintains the parish prison system.

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The city of New Orleans and the parish of Orleans operate as a merged city-county government.{{GR|6}} Before the city of New Orleans became co-extensive with Orleans Parish, Orleans Parish was home to numerous smaller communities. Some of these communities within Orleans Parish have historically had separate identities from the city of New Orleans, such as Irish Bayou and Carrollton. Algiers, Louisiana was a separate city through 1870. As soon as Algiers became a part of New Orleans, Orleans Parish ceased being separate from the city of New Orleans.

Related Topics:
Parish - Orleans - Irish Bayou - Carrollton - Algiers, Louisiana

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Schools

New Orleans Public Schools, the city's school district, is one of the area's largest school districts. NOPS contains approximately 100 individual schools. The Greater New Orleans area has approximately 200 parochial schools.

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Several institutions of higher education also exist within the city, including University of New Orleans, Tulane University, Loyola University New Orleans, Dillard University, Southern University at New Orleans, Xavier University of Louisiana, Louisiana State University Medical School, and Our Lady of Holy Cross College. Other schools include Delgado Community College, Nunez Community College, Culinary Institute of New Orleans, Herzing College, and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Related Topics:
University of New Orleans - Tulane University - Loyola University New Orleans - Dillard University - Southern University at New Orleans - Xavier University of Louisiana - Louisiana State University Medical School - Our Lady of Holy Cross College - Delgado Community College - Nunez Community College - Culinary Institute of New Orleans - Herzing College - New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

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Transportation

Note: The effects of Hurricane Katrina have greatly altered the services and usability of the transportation networks serving New Orleans. Please note that the information below describes the city's transportation system prior to Hurricane Katrina.

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The metropolitan area is served by Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport {{airport codes|MSY|KMSY}}, located approximately nine miles west of the city in the city of Kenner. It serves millions of passengers on approximately 300 nonstop flights per day to or from destinations throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The airport also handles a significant amount of charter operations from Europe. The airport also serves as a nonstop gateway to Mexico for Federal Express.

Related Topics:
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport - Kenner - United States - Canada - Latin America - Caribbean - Europe - Mexico - Federal Express

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Within the city itself is Lakefront Airport, a small, general aviation airport, as well as the New Orleans Downtown Heliport, located on the roof of the Louisiana Superdome's parking garage. There are also several regional airports located throughout the metropolitan area.

Related Topics:
Lakefront Airport - General aviation - Louisiana Superdome

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The city is also served by rail via Amtrak. The New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal is the central rail depot, and it is served by three trains: the Crescent to New York City, the City of New Orleans to Chicago, Illinois, and the Sunset Limited from Orlando to Los Angeles.

Related Topics:
Amtrak - New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal - Crescent - New York City - City of New Orleans - Chicago, Illinois - Sunset Limited - Orlando - Los Angeles

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In addition, the city is served by six Class I freight railroads. The Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroads approach the city from the west, the Norfolk Southern and CSX from the east, and the Canadian National and Kansas City Southern from the north.

Related Topics:
Union Pacific - Burlington Northern Santa Fe - Norfolk Southern - CSX - Canadian National - Kansas City Southern

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Public transportation in the city is operated by New Orleans Regional Transit Authority ("RTA"). In addition to the many bus routes connecting the city and suburban areas, there are three active streetcar lines moved by electric motors powered by DC wires overhead. The St. Charles line (green cars, formerly connecting New Orleans with the then independent suburb of Carrollton) is the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in New Orleans and a historic landmark. The Riverfront line (also known as the Ladies in Red since the cars are painted red) runs parallel to the river from Canal Street through the French Quarter to the Convention Center above Julia Street in the Arts District. The Canal Street line uses the Riverfront line tracks from Esplanade Street to Canal Street, then branches off down Canal Street and ends at the cemeteries at City Park Avenue with a spur running from the intersection of Canal and Carrollton Avenue to the entrance of City Park at Esplanade near the entrance to the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Related Topics:
Public transportation - New Orleans Regional Transit Authority - Bus - Streetcar - DC - St. Charles line

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The city's streetcars were also featured in the Tennessee Williams play, A Streetcar Named Desire. The streetcar line to Desire Street became a bus line in 1948, but may be restored as a light rail streetcar line.

Related Topics:
Tennessee Williams - A Streetcar Named Desire - Light rail

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The roads in the city are arranged in a radial grid pattern, emanating out to various parts of town from a central point in the Central Business District. I-10 travels east-west through the city, and goes very close to the Central Business District, taking traffic west towards Baton Rouge, Louisiana and east-northeast to Slidell, Louisiana. The twin spans which once carried I-10 across the east end of Lake Pontchatrain, severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina, are to be replaced with a new six-lane bridge in 2006. As I-10 heads south towards the Central Business District, it is called the Pontchartrain Expressway. I-610 connects I-10 and travels through the northern central part of the city. US 90 crosses the Mississippi River as it leaves the Central Business District, and heads south towards the southern suburbs as the Westbank Expressway, circling around the city and rejoining I-10 in the western parts of the city. I-10 is also connected to I-12, north of Lake Pontchartrain, via the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, consisting of two parallel bridges, which are also the longest in the world.

Related Topics:
Central Business District - I-10 - Baton Rouge, Louisiana - Slidell, Louisiana - I-610 - US 90 - I-12 - Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

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The interstate highways serving New Orleans were laid out in the middle of the 20th century, a time when a larger proportion of Gulf of Mexico freight traffic passed through New Orleans. I-10 goes west to Houston and beyond and east to Mobile and Florida, with I-59 and I-55 heading northward to Birmingham and Memphis, respectively. Later, I-12 created a shortcut that avoided crossing Lake Pontchartrain. In Slidell, I-59 and I-12 both end at an interchange with I-10, which turns southward toward New Orleans while I-12 continues straight to rejoin I-10 near Baton Rouge. There are also plans to extend I-49 from Lafayette to New Orleans. The route would follow U.S. Highway 90 and the Westbank Expressway, placing the southern terminus at I-10 behind the Superdome. The southern termini of US Highways 11 and 61 are in New Orleans, and US 51 terminates just west of the city, Laplace.

Related Topics:
I-10 - Houston - Mobile - I-59 - I-55 - Birmingham - Memphis - I-12 - I-49 - Laplace

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The Pontchartrain Expressway (U.S. Highway 90's business route), becomes the Westbank Expressway south of the Mississippi River. Along its route west then northwest from the Crescent City Connection bridge to its terminus at I-10 near the Superdome, the Pontchartrain Expressway follows the path of the former New Basin Canal, dug in the 19th century by thousands of immigrant (mostly Irish) laborers, and filled in in 1947. Some of the older warehouse structures still standing along the Pontchartrain Expressway can trace their roots to their days along the banks of the canal.

Related Topics:
U.S. Highway 90 - Westbank Expressway - Crescent City Connection

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Roads along the Mississippi River were the first to carry overland traffic into New Orleans. US 51 (the "Old Hammond Highway"), US 90, and US 11 followed old Indian routes along slight ridges to become the first automotive highways. Louisiana governor Huey P. Long championed Airline Highway (US 61) to bypass the circuitous river road between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The route of today's US 90 east of New Orleans once included a ferry crossing at Fort Pike. Governor Long built public draw bridges at the Rigolets as political retaliation against the operators of a then-private toll bridge across Lake Pontchartrain. Long achieved his objective: the US 11 toll bridge failed commercially and is owned by the State. US 11 was the escape route for Ignatius J. Reilly at the end of John Kennedy Toole's novel, A Confederacy of Dunces.

Related Topics:
Old Hammond Highway - Huey P. Long

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West of New Orleans, the Ruddock exit at milepost 6 of I-55 is the only trace left of a thriving community that was literally washed away by the hurricane of September 1915. Frenier Beach Hurricane Storm Surge Revisited

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In the 1960s, a controversial "Dixie Freeway" that would have been designated I-410 would have created an "outer loop" encompassing St. Bernard Parish, the westbank areas of New Orleans and Jefferson, and back across the river in St. Charles Parish where I-310 now runs. Environmental concern for the wetlands south of New Orleans and economic considerations derailed those plans.

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