The stretch of land beneath the elevated West Bank Expressway has long been considered an eyesore, but because it’s owned by the state of Louisiana, Jefferson Parish government has little say over its use.
The stretch of land beneath the elevated West Bank Expressway has long been considered an eyesore, but because it’s owned by the state of Louisiana, Jefferson Parish government has little say over its use.
The Parish Council hopes to change that. On Wednesday, it asked Jefferson's legislative delegation to introduce a bill in the upcoming session that would cede control of the property to the parish.
“It always looks terrible,” said council member Ricky Templet, who sponsored the resolution. “We need to be able to control our own fate.”
Often littered with trash, the roughly five-mile-long corridor beneath U.S. 90 between Terry Parkway and Garden Road is largely undeveloped, aside from bus terminals and a walking path that’s rarely used. It sometimes attracts homeless encampments, although not at the same scale as those in New Orleans.
Instead of sitting vacant, that property could be used for new parks, drainage infrastructure or even buildings for retailers, Templet said.
“You could have pickleball courts,” Templet suggested in an interview. “Instead of just having dead grass and homeless people.”
Attending Wednesday’s meeting, state Rep. Timothy Kerner, R-Lafitte, committed to filing legislation in the regular session that begins April 10 to let the parish move forward in developing the site.
“That’s a great place for economic development, and also, it can give the people of west Jefferson a better quality of life,” Kerner said.
To get the ball rolling, the Parish Council on Wednesday authorized the administration to begin accepting applications from design firms interested in developing a master plan for the corridor.
Motorists will begin seeing modest improvements along U.S. 90 in the coming months, thanks to a $3.2 million appropriation from the state for new landscaping and signs at intersections between Westwego and Terrytown.