Ray in New Orleans

Hardly. On the upriver side of the canal is the old port and the old/half-finished-when-Katrina-hit Desire projects. On the downriver side is pretty much completely bulldozed already, and it's spottily developed that far lakeside in da Parish. It's really a bridge from nothing to nothing.

I drive the Poland/Alvar/Florida intersection on a regular basis. Traffic is extremely light through there. I'm not sure who this bridge will benefit, besides the very few people that have my reverse commute. I'd rather see the $350M go towards fixing the deplorable roads that we already have.

I'm pretty shocked that they would use 'wet' sat images to show the area.

wow, ray, so nice to hear from you again. i went away for a couple of days and found this treasure trove of new posts. thanks. -s

Interesting. Thanks for that link. Golly, it sure makes sense to me. *sigh*

Again, the wheels of government turn oh so slowly...this project was announced well before Katrina, when the thought was that it was going to serve the population of St. Bernard Parish (back when there was such a thing) that commuted in to work in the City every day. An "expressway" through Chalmette, Arabi, and the Ninth Ward that would end near enough to Interstate access at Louisa and Almonaster such that it would provide a somewhat smoother and faster trip from St. Bernard to Jefferson as well. It was always designed to run mostly just to the north side of the existing hurricane protection out over the marsh in St. Bernard, and pretty much over the already existing Florida Avenue right of way in the Ninth Ward. I'm not so sure that the "need" for this project is as great as it was before Katrina...but you know how impossible it is to re-allocate funds that have already been dedicated.