WGNO

City leaders announce $5.6 million Gentilly drainage project groundbreaking

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — As efforts continue to improve the City of New Orleans’ infrastructure city leaders gathered for a new ground breaking project in Gentilly.

The current project, the “Oak Park” community is a $5.6 million FEMA funding project that will serve to improve drainage quality in a high flood prone area in the City.

The scope of work will include increasing the capacity of subsurface drainage between local streets and trunk lines and utilizing green infrastructure options, such as retention/detention basins, street basins, rain gardens and street-side bioswales, which are channels that help with stormwater runoff. 

“This project will help alleviate flooding by increasing our capacity of our subsurface draining using green infrastructure options,” said Mayor LaToya Cantrell. “These green projects are innovative and really make us stand apart from other cities across the nation. What we do now will determine where this city will be in 50 years. However, we will start seeing the impacts of our investments sooner. These actions are critical in ensuring our sustainability, whether it’s promoting renewable energy, installing EV chargers or investing in solar farms.” 

The expected completion date for is set for the fall of 2023. 

Latest Posts:

Stay up to date with the latest news, weather and sports by downloading the WGNO app on the Apple or Google Play stores and by subscribing to the WGNO newsletter.