By the end of 2015, Mid City residents will be driving down a safer and more pedestrian-friendly Government Street, says Mayor Kip Holden, who today laid out plans for a redesign of the busy roadway. Holden says the redesign—which will include trimming the number of traffic lanes from four to three, as well as adding a continuous turn lane and a dedicated bicycle lane—will also be more conducive to the continued redevelopment of Mid City.
“Our goal is to make Government Street a destination,” which requires not merely filling in potholes but fixing traffic and safety problems, says Holden.
The redesign—which was recommended in FuturEBR, the city-parish’s master plan—is being made possible by an agreement the city-parish recently completed with DOTD to transfer nearly 11 miles of state roadways to city-parish oversight and control. The portion of Government Street from I-110 to Jefferson Highway was included in that transfer, while the city-parish already controls the portion from Jefferson to Lobdell Avenue.
Under the agreement—which the Metro Council OK’d last week—the state will put the transferred roads into good condition and provide 40 years of maintenance funds, as well as fully fund the Government redesign project, which is estimated to cost between $6 million and $8 million. Construction is expected to begin by the end of the year or early 2015, Holden says, with an anticipated completion by the end of 2015.
Marsha Rish, owner of Honeymoon Bungalow, a vintage department store located at 3153 Government St., says the redesign—which also includes expanded sidewalks—will be crucial for increasing and attracting new business to the area.
“Right now, the way Government is,” she says, “people are flying down Government,” Rish says, adding it appears most people use the street merely to commute through Mid City, rather than to get to their homes or area shops.
Rish says commuter traffic often causes her store to be overlooked. She hopes the redesign will slow down traffic by reducing the speed limit and adding more traffic lights and crosswalks.
William Daniel, Holden’s chief administrative officer, says additional traffic lights won’t be a part of the redesign, but crosswalks will, though many other details have not yet been determined.
“All of that’s going to be in the design, [the engineer of] which we hope to have selected in the next 60 to 90 days,” Daniel says.
