Claiborne Corridor Cultural Innovation District Green Infrastructure Plan Background The Claiborne Corridor Cultural Innovation District (CID) is an ongoing strategy with at least those two tenets, culture and innovation, serving as the driving force that has shaped the life blood of North Claiborne Avenue over the past 50 years, under the massive bridge structure of the I-10 Expressway, and consequently, the best way to move these impacted communities through the next ten years of economic, social, cultural and environmentally sound development. CID encompasses 25 blocks of North Claiborne Avenue and the surrounding neighborhoods that have suffered from the outside imposition of the freeway through a viable and green community in the 1960 s. New Orleans in the 1950 s and 1960 s was often at the heart of social change for the nation through the Civil Rights Movement. The founding of SCLC by Reverend A.L. Davis and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and a host of others, the very visible integration of public schools through the efforts of Ruby Bridges, Leona Tate, Tessie Prevost and Gail Etienne, the integration of public transportation, the legal fights led by A.P. Tureaud Sr. and others were common place. Many of the strategies for these movements came from the same Seventh Ward and Tremé communities of the Claiborne Corridor. While major accomplishments were happening towards equity for blacks and whites across New Orleans throughout the 1960 s, through the effort of the Civil Rights Movement, three catastrophic events brought many setbacks and losses to African-Americans in this city, during this time period and one would have a devastating impact 40 years later. Two were driven by the use of infrastructure to impose the goals of national
commerce at the expense of New Orleans African-American communities. And, the third was the failure of poorly planned infrastructure killing or economically devastating people in the Lower Ninth Ward. The failure was the levee breaks and over topping of the levees caused by Hurricane Betsy. One of the imposed infrastructure activities was the building of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, known as the MRGO or Mister Go. Built during the 1960 s to increase and speed up national shipping channels, its impact would not be felt until forty years after Hurricane Betsy in 1965. The ever widening MRGO, allowed for the storm surges of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to come in from the Gulf and breech or break levees, flooding 80% of the City of New Orleans in 2005. The other imposed infrastructure was the Robert Moses inspired construction of the I 10 freeway on top of North Claiborne Avenue, destroying the longest span of Live Oak trees in America as well as the economic heart of African-American commerce in New Orleans. CID is a community led effort in tandem with the City of New Orleans to reverse the negative impact of the freeway bridge, known as The Bridge, and to turn this devastating situation into an asset and model for building, healthy communities. The CID can serve as a district that will lead the city and the nation in a more equitable form of urbanism, by mixing innovation and culture with green infrastructure strategies to create a vision of sustainable urban living for cities facing the full-on impact of climate change and sea level rising affecting most directly it s poor and African-American communities. The CID Complete Streets Strategy: Merging Informal and Formal Approaches, Using Temporary to Permanent Infrastructure The City of New Orleans and the communities surrounding North Claiborne Avenue have identified a 19-block portion of the area as the CID, along with an additional 6 blocks to the east, dedicated to preserving the remaining live oaks and the creation of a walkable, urban forest and park space. The CID is a catalyst for spurring development and unique green infrastructure strategies for growing the communities anew. CID is using a Complete Streets approach to the 25 blocks of North Claiborne including a calming of traffic, the introduction of a free circulator bus, the encouragement of heavy bicycle and pedestrian usage of the streets and sidewalk areas through transportation corridors and plazas, and the expansion of landscapes including green infrastructure systems such as bio-swales, pervious pavement, detention, retention and infiltration ponds, a small cypress forest and a massive amount of tree, shrubs and grass plantings throughout the CID. The CID approach is also centered on using a variety of planning and design strategies based upon Informal to Formal and from Temporary to Permanent interventions.
Master Plan for the 19 Blocks. The Master Plan for the 19-block CID and 6-block urban forest and park space, addresses green infrastructure differently in four distinct CID zones and offers green infrastructure solutions in a fifth zone east of the CCID, as well as a proposal for green roof approaches on top of The Bridge. The Fifth Zone - 6 blocks of a cypress forest and remainder of the live oak alle e In the zone, Gardens of the Moors, is a more formal treatment of water as an aesthetic amenity managing water through runnels and fountains, aerating and holding minimal amounts of water that can be fed into the next zone down river or to the east, when needed. In the next zone, Back-A-Town, over a million gallons of water from the Bridge above during major storm events, will be detained and slowly released into the drainage system of the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans, helping to reduce flooding to surrounding neighboring communities during these major storm events. This zone includes an intersection with the Lafitte Greenway, the City of New Orleans s major green infrastructure project linking the French Quarter to Bayou Saint John and beyond. In the next two zones is the creative use of planters, bio-swales and an increase of greenspace and plantings to slow the water flow and slow subsidence. In
the fifth area is the recreation of a small cypress forest near the end of The Bridge and the replanting of missing Live Oak trees in this original alle e of trees, beyond the cypress forest all the way to Elysian Fields Avenue. Finally, CID offers a green infrastructure approach on the bridge itself through the intermittent greening of shoulder lanes on the bridge as green roofs that slow speeds and filters runoff. What follows is a more detailed description of the five zone approaches to green infrastructure. Gardens of the Moors Green Infrastructure Project ZONE 1: CLEVELAND, CANAL, & IBERVILLE CLAIBORNE CORRIDOR CULTURAL INNOVATION DISTRICT PRELIMINARY MASTER PLAN Meyer Engineers, LTD Design Jones, LLC December 2, 2017 The short-term strategy for the Gardens of the Moors is to renovate and reactivate the existing fountains located on either block of North Claiborne Avenue, adjacent to Canal Street. Build distinct runnels in these two-block under the bridge for managing and recycling water in a manner that is aesthetically pleasing but also serves as an educational and historical narrative of the City of New Orleans symbiotic relationship to water, its healing and meditative powers. Rather than solely depending on water from the SWB system, the fountain and pools will have built in purification systems and the water will mainly be supplied from the existing run off pipe system from the bridge during storm events with an underground storage capacity of 18,000 gallons per block for two blocks for a total of 36,000 gallons of water. The four proposed storage units at 9,000 gallons per unit would be measured at 200 long X 15 wide X 3 deep. On the north side and south side of the street will be rain gardens and tree plantings, with curb cuts, that slow water and eventually release the over flow back into the city s storm drainage
system. The Gardens of the Moors will end to the east with a Children s Playground dedicated to environmental sustainability ideas centered on living with water in the Gulf Coast Region and with sea level rising. The planning and design will be accomplished with the work of civil engineers, landscape architects, cultural historians, children s play experts and others. ZONE 1: CLEVELAND, CANAL, & IBERVILLE CLAIBORNE CORRIDOR CULTURAL INNOVATION DISTRICT PRELIMINARY MASTER PLAN Meyer Engineers, LTD Design Jones, LLC December 2, 2017 ZONE 1: CLEVELAND, CANAL, & IBERVILLE CLAIBORNE CORRIDOR CULTURAL INNOVATION DISTRICT PRELIMINARY MASTER PLAN Meyer Engineers, LTD Design Jones, LLC December 2, 2017
Back-A-Town Plaza Green Infrastructure Project One of the more extensive uses of green infrastructure occurs where the CID intersects with the Laffite Corridor. The intent is to use the three blocks under the bridge from Iberville Street to St. Louis Street to hold back and slowly release over 1 million gallons of water in a series of three ponding areas that will eventually serve as an ecologically driven set of uniquely designed, walkable gardens like the marsh and wetlands ecologically focused, areas within San Francisco s Presidio Park. The three ponds will include a retention pond, detention pond and infiltration pond, all linked to the canal underneath.
The value of this site in particular, is linked to its location next to the canal under the Lafitte Corridor tied to Bayou Saint John. The three-block site has had the recent use of being a green screened, storage area for impounded vehicles held by the City of New Orleans. Thus, for the City of New Orleans, the site under the bridge, has served as an indirect economic revenue generator over three specific blocks. Our proposed reuse of public land is a progressive move away from regressive revenue gained through impoundment fines and the hauling and storing of hundreds of automobiles, to one where the same landscape can now hold a definitive amount of water tied to real cost savings from preventative strategies against flooding and against subsidence, even better freeway safety above as well as the creation of an educational/recreational landscape gardens amenity. The projection of holding 800 thousand gallons is based upon the amount of water that falls on the bridge during a major storm event, passing through existing drainage pipes plus additional drainage to the ponding system below. The huge storm event August 5, 2017 where 8 inches fell within three hours. The total area on the bridge above the three block is 1070 feet X 100 feet or 107,000 square feet. Thus, more than 500, 000 gallons of water fell in that bridge area on August 5 th. Our goal is to hold at least one and a half times the capacity in the pond spaces below. The ponds will average 13,500 square feet each but vary in depth. One pond will average 2 feet in depth, the other two will be 3 feet. The complete project could be created at about 15 million dollars through all three phases, with the phases including: Phase One excavating on the three blocks, remediation of the land, infrastructure connection from the freeway drainage system through each pond to the canal under the Lafitte Corridor Greenway, planting, maintaining of the closed green screening of the 3- block site. Connecting excess water from the Garden of the Moors into filtering through the three ponds. Keeping of at least on of the temporary structures currently on site. Employment of at least six to ten local residents tied to water systems management through the SWB. At least 50 trees will be planted in the area. Phase Two the move from a three-pond system to a park and garden landscape. The removal of the green screen fencing. Phase Three the building of amenities within the gardens including, seating, restrooms lighting, bridges and board walks, a small information/educational facility, full connectivity to the cemetery and to Lafitte Greenway. Another aspect of the Back-A-Town Zone is the Skateboard Park and the Skating Rink both to be drained into the canal through a series of bio-swales and other green infrastructure strategies around the existing drainage systems. The Skateboard will have the dual use of holding water during a major storm event impacting the 300 feet of the bridge above or about 150,000 gallons from the August 5 th event. The Skateboard Park would be designed to hold about 100,000 gallons at an average of 18 inches of depth over 265 feet and 35 feet in width. The bioswales will be used to take the place of bollards on the river and lakeside of the neutral grounds. Both bio-swales will be at least 24 feet wide and run intermittently from St. Joseph to Orleans Streets, or about 800 feet in length, covering close to an acre.
Tambourine and Fan Plaza Green Infrastructure Project Tambourine and Fan is the core of the Market Place for North Claiborne Communities. The major green infrastructure initiatives include a massive planting of at least 200 trees during phase one that will be located in the green spaces over the empty lots, green spaces under the bridge and along the large green areas around four ramps. An additional 200 trees will be planted in a proposed plaza that closes off the lakeside of Claiborne Avenue for the six blocks in a pedestrian only plaza of 2.6 acres. The 2.6-acre plaza will replace street pavement with either porous or permeable pavers and tree plantings. The same patterning of green space and porous pavers will be continued under the bridge in a second phase for at least an additional 2.4 acres for a total of five acres treated this way.
The riverside of the neutral ground will be expanded to a fifty feet wide greenspace with trees plantings, pathways and bio-swales covering 2.5 acres in a number of patterns meant to accommodate circulation patterns of vehicles and pedestrian crossing points. A critical part of the green infrastructure in another phase will be the creation of green roofs integrated into the shoulder lanes and ramps where applicable for filtering runoff water after it is sped off of the active roadways, before it is drained into the SWB system. This will also slow traffic above, lessening noise and pollution below on Claiborne Avenue. Spirit Circle Green Infrastructure Project The major green infrastructure initiatives include a massive planting of at least 200 trees during phase two that will be located in the green spaces over the empty lots, green spaces under the bridge and along the large green areas around the one ramp. The 1.7-acre plaza will replace street pavement with either porous or permeable pavers and plantings continued under the bridge in a second phase for at least an additional treated green way. The riverside of the neutral ground will be expanded to a fifty feet wide greenspace with trees plantings, pathways and bio-swales covering 1.7 acres in a number of patterns meant to accommodate circulation patterns of vehicles and pedestrian crossing points. A critical part of the green infrastructure in another phase will be the creation of green roofs integrated into the shoulder lanes and ramps where applicable for filtering runoff water after it is sped off of the active roadways, before it is drained into the SWB system. This will also slow traffic above, lessening noise and pollution below on Claiborne Avenue.
2018 Google 2018 Google The Fifth Zone: Cypress Forest Urban Arboretum and the Remaining Live Oak Tree Alle e The Fifth Zone consists of four acres of the Cypress Forest Urban Arboretum and 2.4 acres of the remaining Live Oak Alle e for a total of 6.4 acres of green urban infrastructure. The 2.4 acres of the most eastern or down river portion of the CID will focus on restoring the Live Oak tree, four tree columns arrangement by planting all missing trees including within the adjacent Elysian Fields neutral ground. The area under the trees is often used as special events parking and could be organized through design processes to do minimal damage to root structures. Eventually, parking along the street should be eliminated for the three blocks so that ten feet of street lane can be given back to the trees on both sides of Claiborne Avenue to insure healthy root growth and more green space for park use. The four remaining acres are dominated by the on and off ramp structures that impose upon the neighborhood. The creation of an arboretum using native cypress forest plantings can lessen the impact of the cement towers while creating an educational space and major green infrastructure space. The existing space has multiple low points that can be used for shallow ponding areas, traversed by creating wooden boardwalk areas. These areas can be planted as wetlands and labeled for educational spaces for all ages. Multiple Louisiana landscapes can be built into the arboretum and this offers an opportunity to collaborate with the Southern University Urban Forestry Department and Delgado Community College. Also, the potential to add an additional four acres at the adjacent park, Hunters Field is under consideration, pending a current partnership discussion with New Orleans Recreation Department Commission and Capital Projects Administration.