Meet Alexis Marceaux - Programs & Projects Manager

We are so excited to welcome Alexis Marceaux to the team as our new Programs & Projects Manager! As a proud New Orleanian, Alexis looks forward to creating programming that celebrates the culture of New Orleans. When she is not biking, walking or working on the Greenway, you can find her performing with her bands Sweet Crude and Alexis & the Samurai at venues all throughout the city. She is excited to fuse her music career and education experience with her position at the Greenway.

1. What is something new you've learned about the Greenway? 

I've learned that each one of the cypress trees we planted on the Greenway holds 880 gallons of water! Imagine what planting 1,000 cypress trees on the Greenway will do to prevent flooding in the neighborhood!

2. What are you most excited to dive into? 

I'm really excited about our green infrastructure projects and implementing new programs that celebrate the culture of New Orleans throughout the year!

3. Where are people most likely to find you on the Greenway? 

People can find me walking and biking the greenway daily and checking on our little baby cypress trees. I cannot wait to watch them grow!

The Lopez Bike & Pedestrian Bridge is Open!

Today, May 18th, Mayor Cantrell, Friends of Lafitte Greenway, project partners, and community members cut the ribbon on the N. Lopez Bridge. This new bridge creates critical safe connections from the neighborhoods, to the Greenway and beyond. 

Water Management Feasibility Study

Could the Greenway do more to address neighborhood flooding? This is the question that we are asking in a study underway. Friends of Lafitte Greenway, in partnership with the Greater New Orleans Foundation and the New Orleans Business Alliance, has commissioned a study by Waggonner & Ball Architects to study the feasibility, cost, and impact of adding additional stormwater management facilities to the Lafitte Greenway. Parks have the power to address climate change. Preliminary results from this research are expected this summer. Stay tuned for opportunities to learn more and engage. 

Planting the First 100 Trees of the 1,000 Cypress Forest

We’re planting 100 trees on Thursday, April 21st, in honor of Earth Day and you can be a part of it! Join our volunteer groups from Navy Week, Ochsner, IBERIABANK First Horizon, Emmanual Church, and Gulf Coast Bank. Our Greenway Grow! Campaign aims to plant a total of 1,000 Cypress trees and pollinator meadows on the Greenway. 

You can support this campaign by signing up to volunteer here and giving at laffitegreenway.org/grow.

Thank you to our partners at NORD, Parks and Parkways, Spackman Mossop and Michaels, SOUL and Sprout NOLA.  

Get ready for GiveNOLA Day - May 3rd

Early Giving for GiveNOLA Day starts next week! Starting April 19th, you can schedule your gift here and help us reach our $35,000 goal.

Your support on GiveNOLA Day, May 3rd, means the Greenway can continue to be a space for people to play and exercise, for trees and flowers to grow, and community to connect at fitness classes, Movies in the Park, and other cultural events. 

If you’re looking to get more involved in the Greenway and GiveNOLA day, email [email protected]. 

By Katherine Hart 

May 13, 2020

A ray of good news has appeared through the gloom of the coronavirus pandemic: More New Orleanians are getting on their bikes and enjoying local trails and greenspace.

It’s a phenomenon many have noticed since the stay-at-home restrictions began, whether they’re among those getting out to exercise or among those observing the world from their porch or front window . Now there’s data to support it. A sustained rise in biking and walking counts has been recorded throughout the stay-at-home order by the University of New Orleans Transportation Institute.

The institute records data on pedestrian and bicycle activity from permanent, continuous counters in key locations throughout the region .

“It appears that many people are discovering or rediscovering the bicycle during this time of significantly disrupted travel behaviors and traffic patterns,” said Tara Tolford, research associate and pedestrian and bicycle outreach coordinator at UNO Transportation Institute.

By: Kathy Finn | May 31, 2019

Source: MyNewOrleans.com | Full Article

In a city where land available for commercial development is scarce, it is refreshing to see a strip of green space not only preserved, but transformed into a magnet for new activity, which is what is happening along the corridor that stretches from New Orleans’ Treme neighborhood through Mid-City.

The former railroad right-of-way now known as Lafitte Greenway is slowly becoming an oasis of outdoor fun and relaxation thanks to a 2.6-mile bicycle path, with playgrounds and pedestrian-friendly features that have taken shape there. Since the corridor’s opening in 2015, about 320,000 cyclists and pedestrians access the greenway annually, according to automated people counters monitored by local researchers.

Now, developers who recognize the growing appeal of the green space have begun re-purposing adjacent sites and renovating ramshackle structures into new housing, cafés and bars, with plans to make the Greenway a place where people will routinely come for a refreshing break in the heart of a bustling city.