This the the seventh year that Friends of the Lafitte Corridor has organized the annual hike along the former Norfolk Southern Rail Line, a strip of land that links Tremé, Mid-City, Faubourg St. John, City Park and Lakeview. This year the hike begins April 16 at 10 a.m.
Quotes from Times Picayune article are below:
"In June, the city bought the last 17 acres of the corridor — bordered by North Dorgenois, St. Louis and Lafitte streets and North Claiborne Avenue — from the Trust for Public Land, a national conservation organization, for $3.8 million in Community Development Block Grant money."
“The Greenway will serve as a link between new and existing parks, playgrounds, recreational facilities and community centers, encouraging active living and promoting public health,” said Cedric Grant, deputy mayor of Facilities, Infrastructure and Community Development."
"With all of the land in city hands, it remains only for the design to be finished, said Bart Everson, president of the Friends of the Lafitte Corridor.
“At the heart of this is a trail, a continuous, safe trail that goes from the Quarter to Lakeview,” Everson said. For bikers and pedestrians, cross streets with traffic are a major hazard. On the Lafitte Corridor, “you do have to cross over streets, but not very many,” Everson said."
The street grid was built around the railroad track the is now the Lafitte Corridor. Before the railroad, this historic stretch was a canal dug by the Spanish to connect the French Quarter (at the turning basin which is now Basin Street)to Bayou St. John.
Participation is free and lunch is included. But hikers are asked to register in advance. Go to folc-nola.org to sign up.
Also see:
Hikers along the Lafitte Corridor will trace the path of a soon-to-be greenway
Published: Sunday, April 10, 2011, 12:10 AM
By Sheila Stroup, The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune
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