Holiday Drive’s bridge to be demolished, replaced as de Gaulle canal work continues

City officials are planning to replace the Holiday Drive bridge over the Gen. de Gaulle Drive canal in connection with the federally funded drainage improvement project, District C Councilman Freddie King III said Thursday (June 5).

Built in 1958 when De Lesseps Morrison was New Orleans’ mayor, the James W. Hibben Memorial Bridge was to be closed once the ongoing drainage canal construction was within 100 feet of the span, officials told Algiers residents during a community meeting in August 2024. The bridge is a vital link in the heart of Algiers’ commercial corridor.

The bridge was to reopen only after canal construction work is completed — assuming it passed inspections following the vibrations caused by sheet pile driving and other heavy construction work.

Apparently a determination already is made, even as motorists continue to use Hibben bridge.

“It’s not structurally sound,” King told residents at the Huntlee Village Neighborhood Association meeting. “They (city officials) don’t want to put a Band-Aid on a structurally unsound bridge.”

Now, the City of New Orleans will pay to demolish replace the span, King said, possibly using proceeds from a millage initiative that voters will consider in the Nov. 15 municipal election.

Hibben bridge will be demolished “later this year,’ King said, citing information he received from the city’s Department of Public Works.

The city expects that motorists will traverse central Algiers without a Holiday Drive crossing “for about a year,” King said.

The good news, he added, is that “we will have a new bridge.”

Details about the millage initiative and about the bridge demolition and rebuilding plans are not immediately available. Our Streets NOLA has reached out to the  U.S. Army Corps

of Engineers and city officials for more details and will share them when — or if — they’re available.

The Corps of Engineers New Orleans District is overseeing a $550 million drainage improvement project in Algiers, known as SELA 72.2, that has largely focused on hardening the Gen. de Gaulle drainage canal. That involves installing a 45-foot-wide, 5-feet-deep concrete flume. The flume is completed from Wall Boulevard to Behrman Place.

Omega Foundation Services Inc., of Slaughter, La., was awarded a $29 million contract to extend the flume from Behrman Place to the Algiers Outfall Canal in July 2024. The contract includes leaving Hibben bridge intact, meaning there was to be a break in the flume at the span.

The canal would have retained its earthen banks hardened only by rocks at and underneath the bridge, officials told residents last year.

Presumably there will be no break in the flume if Hibben bridge is removed,

As part of Omega’s contract, the company must develop a “traffic control plan” for motorists who depend on a canal crossing at Holiday Drive.

During Thursday’s Huntlee Village meeting, King said discussions are afoot among city officials about the configuration of Gen. de Gaulle at Rue Parc Fontaine. When the Hibben bridge is gone, motorists will use the U-turn at Rue Parc Fontaine more frequently. Those motorists are restricted to de Gaulle’s inside lane because of the flexible bollards. Those plastic bollards might be replaced with a more sturdy material to ensure motorists remain on the inside lane.

Meanwhile a millage proposal planned for November ballots would raise an estimated $500 million to $600 million, King said. About 40 percent of that revenue would be used to repair streets and bridges citywide, King said.

In Algiers, replacing Hibben bridge is identified in the proposed spending plan (we’re waiting to hear word on the city’s plans for replacing Hibben bridge should voters reject the initiative). Tullis Drive — which will see more traffic once Hibben bridge is gone — would be slated for repair or reconstruction under the proposed millage, King said.

An upside for Algiers residents whose run to Rouse’s or Walmart will be complicated by the loss of a canal crossing at Holiday Drive? The Aldi that will replace the Winn-Dixie is expected to open in September.

CORRECTION: This report has been updated to reflect that the city – not the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – will pay to demolish Hibben bridge.