Sewerage & Water Board Of New Orleans Community & Intergovernmental Relations Department 625 St. Joseph Street, Room B-47 New Orleans, Louisiana 70165 504-585-2175
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 17, 2002
Jefferson Avenue will be closed near South Claibrone as drainage canal work proceeds.

Traffic patterns will change beginning Thursday (April 18) as work on the South Claiborne Avenue drainage canal project proceeds.

East bound traffic on Claiborne will be transferred to a temporary roadway in the median from Octavia to Robert. West bound traffic on Claiborne will not be affected. Jefferson Avenue will be closed in both directions from Willow to Claiborne, requiring lake bound traffic on Jefferson to find alternate routes to reach or cross Claiborne.

Motorists traveling east on Claiborne will be unable to turn right or left onto Jefferson and vehicles heading west on Claiborne will be unable to turn left at Jefferson, as the median will be closed. This traffic plan is expected to be in effect until mid-August.

Traffic routes have been restored to normal on Claiborne from Calhoun to Joseph, on State Street and on Nashville Avenue, now that work is completed in those areas.

The construction is part of a $ 43.4 million project to build a new canal beneath Claiborne from Nashville to Louisiana and two new canals beneath Napoleon from Claiborne to Fontainebleau Drive.

The work is part of the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Program (SELA), a cooperative effort by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans.