One Historic Black Neighborhood’s Stake in the Infrastructure Bill
The New York Times
Generations of New Orleans residents have dreamed of the day when the Claiborne Expressway might be removed. President Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure package could eventually make that possible.
NEW ORLEANS — In the days after the House passed a $1.2 trillion spending package that promises to pour money into America’s aging infrastructure, several residents of a storied New Orleans neighborhood turned to the highway that divides their streets and pondered a common question: What does this mean for us?
For decades, that highway — an elevated stretch of Interstate 10 that runs above North Claiborne Avenue in the Tremé neighborhood — has been cast as a villain that robbed the historic African American community, taking many of its homes, businesses and a glorious strand of oak trees when it was built more than a half-century ago.
Since then, generations have envisioned a day when it might be removed — or at least closed off to traffic — and the neighborhood restored to its former vibrancy. Now, the infrastructure bill sets aside federal funding to help neighborhoods like Tremé.
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