New Orleans neighbors frustrated with giant hole housing animals and sewage

By Deja Brown

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    NEW ORLEANS (WDSU) — Residents on Odin Street in the Milenburg neighborhood have been dealing with curb-to-curb road work that has been abandoned for nine months.

Now, the giant hole in their road houses everything from overgrown weeds to raw sewage and even animals.

Resident Paige Fatland says navigating the neighborhood is so difficult that she has to draw out a physical map when her friends and family come to visit.

“Every intersection is a different pothole, a different sewerage pump, there’s literally no access to get to my home.”

Fatland has been living in the area for two years and calls it “a mounting maze” as she and her neighbors deal with a number of obstacles due to the abandoned road work on Odin Street.

There’s a hanging wire being held up by a Y-shaped stick, raw sewage in the street, and the biggest issue, deserted road work from her curb to her neighbor’s curb across the street.

“I haven’t had the access to my driveway in nine months now. This is a huge ADA concern. I have an aunt who’s confined to a wheelchair,” Fatland said.

The street project has been abandoned for so long that tall grass is growing, attracting rampant wildlife.

“They started this project right here November ’22, and since they started it, they have completely abandoned the project.”

She put in a 311 service request to the city and it was closed, citing a “recycling cart issue.”

Unsure of what a recycling cart issue had to do with the big hole in her street, she reached out to Roadwork NOLA, who forwarded her concerns to Christopher Lloyd.

“The only correspondence I had with Mr. Lloyd was one email saying that he would get back to me by the end of the business week, and that was over a month ago.”

At the time of our interview, Christopher Lloyd, the project manager, had not responded.

WDSU’s Deja Brown reached out to Roadwork NOLA with questions, and they responded to the following questions:

WDSU Road Patrol: Why did 311 close the work request at 2341 Odin Street, citing a recycling cart issue? Can you provide a written definition of what a “recycling cart issue” is?

Roadwork NOLA: The 311 requests related to recycling carts at this location have notes showing that the requests were fulfilled by Sanitation, and no 311s tagged with “recycling cart issue” were located for this service address. This was unrelated to the RR130 project.

WDSU Road Patrol: What type of project is 2341 Odin Street a part of?

Roadwork NOLA: This block is part of the RR130 Milneburg Group A (PMOPI) infrastructure improvement project and was initially slated to only receive Incidental Road Repairs. The remaining scope of work for this block includes roadway restoration and the completion of remaining sidewalks, driveways and ADA ramp items.

WDSU Road Patrol: Can you provide the reason this work site has been abandoned since December of 2022?

Roadwork NOLA: During late 2022, the project team and SWBNO located utility failures that required coordinated repairs with ongoing SWBNO bypass pumping and repairs on Spain Street and Filmore Avenue. Following the completion of repairs and approval for restoration, in late July of 2023, the contractor for the Milneburg Group A roadwork project is now moving forward with scheduling restoration and expects to resume and complete this work over the next 90 days.

WDSU Road Patrol: Can Christopher Lloyd, specifically, comment on his correspondence on July 5, where he stated in an email he would be in contact with the resident?

Roadwork NOLA: Roadwork staff will be in touch with the resident this week to provide direct updates and continue correspondence as the work is being scheduled and completed.

WDSU Road Patrol: When can the resident expect a crew to return to the area and for work to resume?

Roadwork NOLA: The start date for this work is currently being scheduled with the contractor and is expected to resume and complete over the next 90 days. Our office will work with the project team on re-establishing driveway access and completing site clean-up while restoration is being scheduled.

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