Jefferson Highway is seeing a renaissance due to Ochsner’s expanding medical complex, and it may see even more drastic improvements soon. Jefferson Parish, along with the Jefferson Parish Economic Development Commission (JEDCO) and Ochsner Health System, have applied for a $17.8 million federal grant to improve the area.
The proposed expenditures for the grant money focus on improving public transportation on the street and making it friendlier for pedestrians and bikers.
The project—which would total $22.3 million, including nearly $5 million in local matching funds—calls for new green-technology buses, revised bus routes, improvements to the bus maintenance facility, a new public transportation hub and transfer station, "pathway connection improvements," and transportation infrastructure improvements including pedestrian and bike paths and traffic flow.
The grant application is part of a wave of revitalization efforts on Jefferson Highway, spurred recently by Ochsner’s plans to build a new facility at the site of a run-down shopping strip on the thoroughfare.
• $17M grant sought to makeover Jefferson Highway [NOLA.com]
• Ochsner Gets Jefferson Council OK to Redevelop Dilapidated Jefferson Highway Shopping Center [Curbed NOLA]