Blaise Calandro remembers when, in the early ‘60s, construction workers shut down all of Government Street to widen it from two lanes to four. He watches from his 77-year-old family business, Calandro’s Supermarket, as construction workers now trim it from four lanes to three, with gradual lane closures rather than a total street shutdown.
Construction on the busy thoroughfare that runs through the city’s urban core began in late January. As Government Street business owners follow the latest updates from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, some worry about how customers will access their storefronts. Others laud DOTD’s work, saying the ‘road diet’ project is long overdue. Either way, the Mid City merchants are arguably the most at-risk—or have the most to gain—from the $11.7 million project.
It’s important to note the construction work currently taking place is actually a precursor to the much-discussed “road diet.” Once done, including the eventual conversion of the state-owned Government from four lanes to three, the street will then be turned over to city-parish government.
For now, the lane running westbound from Foster Drive to Richland Avenue will be closed for a month, says Rodney Mallett, DOTD director of communications, while the coned-off corridor on Eugene Street will be reopened sometime early next week.
After those lanes are reopened, DOTD will move on to a stretch between Jefferson Highway and Lobdell Avenue.
Mallett says he has received “about half [complaints] and half [compliments]” about the project, slated for completion in the summer of 2019, adding most of the complaints are about traffic.
“This is not a congestion relief project or a capacity project,” Mallet says. “This is a safety project.”
Once completed, the “road diet” will stretch about four miles along Government, from East Boulevard downtown to Lobdell Avenue near Independence Park. The new roadway will have one travel lane in each direction and a two-way left-turn lane in the center. The area will also be more walkable, with bigger sidewalks and bike-friendly paths.
‘That’s something we didn’t consider back then as having a great effect on a business,” Calandro says. “The traffic is what we were looking for.”
Patrons of Sutton’s Dry Cleaners, which is behind one of the closed lanes, now have to turn on Steele Boulevard to either enter the backway or go through the drive-thru. Norman Sutton, who owns the business, says he needs to create a new parking lot.
“I’ve lost all my parking in the front, and now all I have is my drive-thru,” Sutton says. “We’re trying to get [customers] trained to where everybody uses the drive-thru. It’s a single drive-thru though, so you have to wait in line.”
Others see the “road diet” as one step closer to making Mid City a destination area.
Gordon Mese, the owner of Garden District Nursery who submitted the “road diet” concept 22 years ago, says the project is long overdue and should help people stop and see what businesses they’re driving past.
“The street was so aggressive and so fast that I wanted to slow the traffic down so people could actually see my business,” says Mese, who notes his March sales were up amid construction.
Maria Vidrine, assistant manager of French Truck Coffee, says the coffee shop supports the road diet because it will make travel easier and safer for bicyclists, who make up a large portion of their customer base. Once the walkways are complete, French Truck Coffee also plans to add a patio to its outdoor area for pedestrians, Vidrine says.
