EPA-funded grant focuses on health impacts of Claiborne Expressway

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — The Claiborne Expressway has cut through the heart of the Tremé neighborhood since the 1960s, when the new interstates were being built.

Yet Amy Stelly, founder of Claiborne Avenue Alliance Design Studio, says it’s driven so many away.   

Now a new Enviornmental Protection Agency grant is helping researchers dig into just how damaging the expressway has been, studying everything from traffic and air quality to public health and economics.

“Do a deep dive into the data, the traffic, the economics, public health, and inform the community. So that we can make an informed decision about how to shape Claiborne going forward,” said Stelly.

Urban Planner Joe Minicozzi says highways built through neighborhoods come at a cost, estimating a $4.7 million dollar loss in annual tax revenue, adding that the noise can be insufferable.

“When the highway came in that basically like, who wants to be next to this thing? So there’s about, I want to say about 1,100 vacant lots in the Tremé and 7th Ward neighborhoods, and that used to have buildings on them, so that’s gone,” said Minicozzi.

Along with noise impacts, the EPA study looked at health impacts of pollution under the Claiborne Expressway.

Dr. Adrienne Katner says her team plans to recruit homeowners to collect environmental data samples, and analyzing soil, land and water in the area.

She explains bridges built within in neighborhoods contribute to traffic pollution, which can have serious health consequences.

“It causes cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, has been associated with lung cancer, and other things like diabetes, and also reproductive effects. So I think that getting that message out there is why we’re doing this study,” said Dr. Katner.

Stelly says the goal is the study is to get both city leaders and the community to talk about ways to resolve these issues and build a partnership.

“By putting programs in place that help state gentrification? Because the people who live here and who have been here want to stay in their homes, and people who were raised here want to come back,” said Stelly.

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