The city of New Orleans will begin shutting down sections of major streets as soon as Thursday (Jan. 30) in preparation for Super Bowl-related activity in and around the city’s core. In response, the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority has planned detours for its buses and streetcars before, during and after Super Bowl weekend.
In an RTA board meeting on Tuesday (Jan. 28), RTA CEO Lona Edwards Hankins told commissioners the bus detours will operate in phases beginning Thursday, when a portion of Basin Street will be closed through February 12, sending buses to Rampart Street or Claiborne Avenue.
Hankins warned that the temporary routes will force more buses onto already busy roadways.
“Our riders need to expect delays, because both the cars and the buses will have to operate along Claiborne Avenue,” Hankins told commissioners.
Riders can expect more detours and delays as the game approaches.
On Feb. 6, the NFL Honors awards ceremony will be held at the Sanger Theater, prompting the city to shut down all of Basin Street between Conti and Canal Streets for most of that day. The streetcars that operate along Canal Street will not stop at Elk Place or Rampart Street beginning at 2 p.m. and the Rampart Streetcar line will not run at all on Feb. 6.
Hankins said the full road closure and streetcar shutdowns are partly in response to the terrorist attack on Bourbon Street in the early hours of New Year’s day. Commissioner Louis Colin, who joined the board in November, questioned her about safety precautions. She said the RTA is “embedded in the city’s security plan.”
Buses will avoid downtown altogether on Super Bowl day, stopping at either Union Passenger Terminal on the outskirts of the Central Business District or Armstrong Park in Treme.
Commissioner Mitchell Guidry, Jr., who also joined the board in November, expressed concerns over final stop locations for buses on Super Bowl Sunday.
“I think we need to look at maybe trying to reroute those buses to get them a little closer,” Guidry said.
The Rampart streetcar is expected to boost service to shuttle service industry workers closer downtown. The line has been shut down while the city conducts construction at the corner of Rampart and Canal streets, but Hankins said the city is expected to finish that work by next week.
According to Hankins, the agency has been involved with calls between the city and employers addressing how workers can get to and from their jobs.
She reiterated that the bus detours are based on the city’s decisions to close certain streets and said riders can visit the RTA website’s Super Bowl page for the most updated information, as the agency may make further changes to its planned detours.
“My head is dizzy just looking at all these changes,” commissioner Flozell Daniels said.
Daniels suggested additional training, including “dry-run” phone calls for operators on the RTA’s customer support rideline, as the agency anticipates a large increase in calls from riders needing assistance to navigate around the detours.
“It’s a lot of pressure when folks are calling in, they’re asking a lot of questions, and typically by the time they call, they’re angry. And so just anything we can do to help support them being ready for a set of complex questions,” Daniels said.
To help with navigation, the RTA is printing pamphlets that show bus detours and streetcar interruptions. The pamphlets will feature a QR code for riders to scan for the most up-to-date detour information. Hankins said the agency will post information about the nearest stops at stops that are closed.
Possible new board member for RTA
The RTA may be one step closer to having a full board of commissioners, as Mayor LaToya Cantrell has selected local transgender rights activist Mariah Moore – who ran for City Council in District D in 2021 – to fill a final vacant seat.
A New Orleans City Council committee on Wednesday voted to advance the nomination to the full council for a final vote.
Moore is executive director of House of Tulip, a New Orleans nonprofit that provides housing and other forms of support for transgender and gender-nonconforming community members.
Moore is also the policy director at the Transgender Law Center, a national civil rights nonprofit. If the City Council approves Moore’s appointment, she will be the first transgender member on the RTA board of commissioners.
The RTA has not had a full governing board since August, when it was stalled for more than three months – the second pause in 2024 – after a series of board departures over the previous six months, including all members representing Jefferson Parish, after the parish chose to leave the New Orleans-based transit agency last summer.
That, along with the August resignation of then-board chair Mark Raymond, Jr., left the seven-member board with only four members, too few to legally hold public meetings and conduct business.
That continued until November, when Guidry, a former RTA operations manager, and Colin, a local businessman, were sworn in as commissioners, giving the board enough members for a legal quorum.