Algiers motorists advised to plan now for Holiday Drive’s bridge closure

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ New Orleans District is asking New Orleans motorists to begin planning alternate routes in Algiers once Holiday Drive’s bridge over the Gen. de Gaulle drainage canal is closed on Feb. 18.

The James W. Hibben Memorial Bridge, a vital link in the heart of Algiers’ commercial district, will be closed due to ongoing improvements in the federally funded drainage project. The Corps of Engineers told residents beginning last year that the bridge would be closed once construction was within 100 feet of the aged span.

“The closure is necessary to safely install a temporary retaining structure that will allow continued progress on ongoing improvements,” the Corps of Engineers said in a statement on Wednesday (Feb. 11).

Click here to read the Corps of Engineers’ press release about the bridge closure.

According to a map released by the Corps of Engineers, southbound Holiday Drive’s inside lanes and the neutral ground crossover at the Algiers Plaza mall will be closed. Southbound traffic will be condensed to one lane and diverted to westbound Gen. de Gaulle.

Northbound Holiday Drive’s two travel lanes, adjacent to the Starbucks, will be diverted to eastbound Gen. de Gaulle.

Separately, the city of New Orleans’ Department of Public Works has said it plans to demolish the Hibben bridge and replace it.

The department has not released details about its plans despite the urging of District C Councilman Freddie King III during the past week. Councilman King last year said Algiers motorists could expect that a year will pass before a new bridge is built.

New Orleans voters in November voted overwhelmingly to allow the city to take on debt through a bonds sale to raise revenue to pay for an array of projects and equipment. Demolishing and replacing the Hibben bridge is among the projects slated for funding under the bond issue.

Constructed in 1958, the existing bridge is named for James “Shavey” Hibben, a son of Algiers Point who died that year of heart attack while fishing at a Plaquemines Parish camp. The New Orleans City Council voted in June 1958 to name the bridge in his honor. The city erected two plaques on the bridge designating it the Hibben bridge. The Department of Public Works removed them last year and said it was storing them.

Click here to read about Shavey Hibben.

Hibben’s descendants hope the city rededicates the bridge to Shavey Hibben. So, too, does the Algiers Historical Society.

“We would hope they rededicate it as part of the history of Algiers that once was,” his grandson Eddie Hibben told Our Streets NOLA. “He was so loved and liked by all races, creeds and religions he helped. It definitely trickled down to the grandchildren, as we were raised to love our neighbors no matter who they are.”

Our Streets NOLA plans more coverage of the Hibben bridge demolition and replacement.