NEW ORLEANS, LA – Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans (SWBNO) understands the burden this ongoing replacement of 115-year-old transmission water mains has placed on businesses and residents in the French Quarter. In addition to the routine email updates we have shared with local businesses and residents since the beginning of the project, we have recently increased our engagement through a project-specific website and weekly meetings with business owners in partnership with the Mayor’s office. SWBNO will fully cooperate with any requested audit activities. 

BACKGROUND

The project involves the following improvements on infrastructure that is more than a century old and poses significant risk of failure if left unaddressed:

• Full replacement of 1,600 ft of 24-inch aging cast iron transmission mains
• Replacement or upgrade of 2,000 ft of drainage lines and associated catch basins
• Inspection, repair, or lining of 1,500 ft of sewer lines
• New water and sewer service connections in the affected blocks, including several fire service connections
• Upgrades of Entergy electric and Delta gas infrastructure in the same footprint to avoid future rework in this area

This work is funded through FEMA’s Joint Infrastructure Recovery Request Program. The former City administration was under a deadline to obligate approved federal funds. When current SWBNO leadership came on board, the project timeline and scope had already been established. SWBNO is fully committed to seeing it through to completion. Construction was originally anticipated to begin in early 2025; however, the start date was delayed to March 2025 to accommodate the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras. High Mississippi River water levels also resulted in a delay in construction pushing the start date into late July 2025.

TIMELINE

The French Quarter transmission main project was originally projected to take one year to complete. We are working with the contractor to facilitate the remaining work on the project and will continue to provide updates on a weekly basis. While there have been unforeseen impacts that have affected the schedule, we have worked to address those challenges and continue making progress toward project completion. These impacts include the discovery of historical artifacts on two different occasions, several weeks of near-freezing weather and heavy rain impacting facets of construction, and coordiation around major city events and coordition with other utility partners upgrading their systems within the same corrdior. 

“The aging infrastructure upgrades and upgrades from other utility partners on Decatur St and St. Peter St are vital to ensuring redundancy in our system and preventing rework on the same roadways. We are committed to completing this project in a timely manner and we are dedicated to continue communicating timelines and expectations to residents and businesses."

-Randy Hayman, Executive Director, Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans

CURRENT STATUS BY BLOCK

600 St. Peter Street

Concrete pavement on this block is complete. Entergy electric has completed their vault and manhole adjustments and SWBNO poured the final two concrete panels at the intersection of St. Peter and Royal streets. Fencing on the 600 block of St. Peter St have been removed and jersey barriers have been installed to shift pedestrian traffic to one side of the block while sidewalk restoration is completed. Sidewalk removal and restoration is about 10% complete and this block is accessible to pedestrians throughout this transition. We aniticipate sidewalk restoration to be completed within 3-4 weeks, weather permitting.

1100 Decatur Street

Concrete pavement has been completed up to Ursulines Avenue. The green mesh and fencing have been removed along this block opening 1100 Decatur St to pedestrian access until sidewalk restoration phase begins next week, weather permitting.

1000 Decatur Street

The concrete roadway has been poured and completed on this block. Crews have completed curb installation and we have removed the green mesh fencing along the majority of the block while we continue work on the 24-inch water main on the 900 block of Decatur. The tie-in location and valve is located on Decatur just before the intersection of St Philip St. Once the new watermain is tied into the system, we will pave the remaining concrete panels and remove the remaining green mesh and fencing (see 900 Decatur update).

900 Decatur Street

Drain line work and sewer upgrades have been completed. The 24-inch transmission water main installation is over 70% completed. Once this work is completed, we will undergo chlorination and bacteria testing ahead of tying in the new water main to the system. We anticipate that all of the subsurface utility work on this block will be completed in 4 weeks, weather permitting. Once the subsurface utility work is completed, crews will move to form and pour the concrete panels on this block. After the concrete panels are cured and temporary asphalt paving is completed, the last of the green mesh and fencing on this project will be removed and the site will be opened to pedestrian traffic. 

LOOKING AHEAD

Portions of the project are in progress and we remain on track for completion of all subsurface utility work by the end of summer 2026. The remainder of the work is expected to wrap up by late fall 2026. If you would like to be added to the email distribution list please contact Public Outreach at outreach@swbno.org.

Previous update on French Quarter Transmission Main project.