.svg) Vieux Carré Riverfront Expressway | |
|---|---|
 Proposed Vieux Carré Riverfront Expressway corridor highlighted in red | |
| Route information | |
| History | Planned 1964–1969 |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Louisiana |
| Highway system | |
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TheVieux Carré Riverfront Expressway was a controversial, mostly-elevated, never-builtfreeway that would have cut through theFrench Quarter (Vieux Carré) ofNew Orleans, Louisiana. From 1964 to 1969, it was also designatedInterstate 310 (I-310).
The freeway would have split fromI-10 at exit 237 (Elysian Fields Avenue—Louisiana Highway 3021) and run south along Elysian Fields Avenue to theMississippi River. There, it would turn southwest and run to a point near Lafayette Street, where ramps would connect to theGreater New Orleans Bridge (U.S. Route 90 Business). An extension, never part of theInterstate Highway System, was to continue west to meet theEarhart Expressway (Louisiana Highway 3139).
A small piece of the freeway was built as a six-lane, 690-by-98-foot-long-and-wide (210 m × 30 m)tunnel, under theRivergate Convention Center, nowHarrah's New Orleans Casino. It is now used forvalet parking.[1]
The Louisiana Highway Department (predecessor to theLouisiana Department of Transportation and Development) hiredRobert Moses as a consultant in 1946 to examine New Orleans' traffic and propose solutions. His proposals included a 40-by-108-foot-high-and-wide (12 m × 33 m) freeway running 3.5 miles (5.6 km) from I-10 near Elysian Fields Ave, following Elysian Fields at ground level to the riverfront, and continuing south, elevated to the US 90 Bus. bridge approach.[2] It was not added to theInterstate Highway System as an urban route in the 1950s due to a lack of funding, but, by 1961, it was being considered for addition. One proposal to gain the mileage was to shiftI-10 to the Riverfront route, but eventually, in 1964, theI-420 bypass ofMonroe was removed from the Interstate System and the mileage transferred to the Riverfront Expressway project.[3] It was officially added to the Interstate Highway System on October 13, 1964, as I-310.[3]
After wide local opposition, the freeway was removed from the Interstate System on August 22, 1969.[4] Its mileage was used in part for a new southern bypass of New Orleans—I-410—which was itself never completed.
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