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| New Orleans Apartment Locator Services : New Orleans |  | Contents | |
| Transportation |
Roads
The Greater New Orleans area is served by several interstate
highways that were laid out in the middle of the 20th century,
a time when a larger proportion of Gulf of Mexico freight traffic
passed through New Orleans. I-10 goes west to Houston and beyond
and east to Mobile and Florida, with I-59 and I-55 heading northward
to Birmingham and Memphis, respectively. Later, I-12 created
a shortcut that avoided crossing Lake Pontchartrain. In Slidell,
I-59 and I-12 both end at an interchange with I-10, which turns
southward toward New Orleans while I-12 continues straight to
rejoin I-10 near Baton Rouge.
There are also plans to extend I-49 from Lafayette to New Orleans.
The route would follow U.S. Highway 90 and the Westbank Expressway,
placing the southern terminus at I-10 behind the Superdome.
The southern termini of US Highways 11 and 61 are in New Orleans,
and US 51 terminates just west of the city, Laplace.
The Pontchartrain Expressway (U.S. Highway 90's business route),
becomes the Westbank Expressway south of the Mississippi River.
Along its route west then northwest from the Crescent City Connection
bridge to its terminus at I-10 near the Superdome, the Pontchartrain
Expressway follows the path of the former New Basin Canal, dug
in the 19th century by thousands of immigrant (mostly Irish)
laborers, and filled in in 1947. Some of the older warehouse
structures still standing along the Pontchartrain Expressway
can trace their roots to their days along the banks of the canal.
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Public transit
Public transit around New Orleans proper is operated by the
New Orleans Regional Transit Authority ("RTA"). In addition
to the many bus routes, there are three active streetcar lines
moved by electric motors powered by dc wires overhead.
The St. Charles line (green cars, formerly connecting New Orleans
with the then independent suburb of Carrollton) is the oldest
continuously operating streetcar line in New Orleans and a historic
landmark.The Riverfront line (also known as the Ladies in Red
since the cars are painted red) which runs parallel to the river
from Canal Street through the French Quarter to the Convention
Center above Julia Street in the Arts District.
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Air
The metropolitan area is served by Louis Armstrong New Orleans
International Airport (IATA code MSY, ICAO code KMSY), which
serves multiple millions of passengers with nearly 300 nonstop
flights per day to or from destinations throughout the United
States, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The airport
also handles a significant amount of charter operations from
Europe. MSY features multiple daily operations from cargo-only
operators as well, and serves as a nonstop gateway to Mexico
for Federal Express.
Armstrong International Airport is owned by the City of New
Orleans, but is located within the city of Kenner.
Within the city itself is Lakefront Airport, which is a general
aviation airport, and the New Orleans Downtown Heliport, located
on the roof of the Louisiana Superdome's parking garage. There
are also several regional airports located throughout the metropolitan
area.
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Water
The Port of New Orleans handles about 145 million short tons
(132 million metric tons) of cargo a year and is the largest
faction of the Port of South Louisiana, the latter being the
largest and busiest shipping port in the western hemisphere
and the 4th busiest in the world.
About 5,000 ships from nearly 60 nations dock at the Port of
New Orleans annually. The chief exports are grain and other
foods from the Midwestern United States and petroleum products.
The leading imports include chemicals, cocoa beans, coffee,
and petroleum. The port handles more trade with Latin America
than does any other U.S. gateway, including Miami.
New Orleans is also a busy port for barges. The barges use the
nation's two main inland waterways, the Mississippi River and
the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, which meet at New Orleans. The
port of New Orleans handles about 50,000 barges yearly.
There are also two ferries that cross the river near the Garden
district and the French Quarter. These ferries are free of charge
to pedestrians, but motorists pay a $1 fee to cross on them.
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Rail
New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal is the passenger rail center
for the city, and it is served by three trains operated by Amtrak:
the Crescent to New York City, the City of New Orleans to Chicago,
and the Sunset Limited from Jacksonville to Los Angeles.
In addition, the city is served by several six Class I freight
railroads. The Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe
railroads approach the city from the west, the Norfolk Southern
and CSX from the east, and the Canadian National ans Kansas
City Southern from the north. |
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