Bike/ped paths to Wisner overpass coming in 2018

          Bicyclists and pedestrians will be able to use the bike/ped lane on the recently completed Wisner overpass when bike paths connecting the bridge path to existing paths north and south of the span are built, Cheryn Robles, community outreach manager at the City of New Orleans Department of Public Works said recently in an email.
            A ribbon cutting ceremony attended by a number of officials representing New Orleans and the Louisiana Department of Transportation opened the traffic lanes of the 1,800-foot-long bridge with a ribbon cutting ceremony in late September.  The lane for bicycle/pedestrian traffic was blocked by police barricades. 
            The path connecting the south end of the overpass path will be built in two phases.  Construction of phase I, from the end of the overpass to the intersection of DeSaix Avenue and Wisner Boulevard, will begin in November.  Phase II, connecting that intersection with Esplanade Avenue near the entrance to City Park with an eight-foot-wide paved path on the west side of Bayou St. John, will follow.  There is a sidewalk there now.
            Robles said the paths will be finished by spring of 2018.  The path will also connect with an existing spur from the paved Festival Grounds service loop/bike/ped path in City Park to Wisner Boulevard.
          The north entrance to the overpass path is a short distance from the southern terminus of the Wisner Bike Path which runs along the westbank of Bayou St. John to Robert E. Lee Boulevard and stops.
          Robles said each segment is part of a lake to river path that will connect Lake Pontchartrain with the Mississippi River uptown.

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