Napoleon's Exile

Ending very soon! Seriously.

The long-awaited end of the Napoleon Avenue drainage-canal project is now expected to be the end of the year — all of it — and landscaping on the neutral ground should be done next year, officials with the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told neighbors Thursday night.


The section of Napoleon from South Claiborne to Carondelet Street is all but finished already, said engineer Ron Spooner of the S&WB and John Fogarty of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during a town-hall meeting at the St. Stephen Catholic Church school cafeteria. The box canal has been completely installed, and Boh Brothers contractors are now finishing up replacing curbs and sidewalks that were removed during construction.

This month, they will sod the neutral ground with new grass, and city workers are replacing the lights in the neutral ground that had been removed with historic, high-efficiency lighting, said Joey Wagner, a senior project manager with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. By the end of April, all work should be complete on that section, the officials said.

Construction is continuing on the section between Carondelet and Constance streets, but that portion of the project is smaller and moving faster, and is currently projected to be finished by December — marking the end of major construction on Napoleon Avenue.

They're still going to be working on upper Jefferson and on Louisiana for a long time to come. But Napoleon Avenue is the long dividing line through the heart of Uptown. When those fences come down, we will have a grand reunification concert featuring Jesus Jones and Scorpions.