MOONWALK

NEW ORLEANS

Eustis Engineering recently completed a geotechnical exploration at the famous New Orleans Moonwalk park, a promenade on the bank of the Mississippi River fronting the French Quarter. A revitalization project along the walkway calls for a new river lookout, new stairs and paving, an expanded plaza area, new paving across the railroad and streetcar lines, and new landscaping, seating, and plantings.

The project is part of the City of New Orleans’ plans for the 2018 tricentennial.

Performing a geotechnical exploration along one of New Orleans’ most visited sites poses many logistical challenges, but our drillers and field technicians were successful in completing a safe and speedy program downtown. We performed a series of laboratory tests on the soil samples we obtained at the Moonwalk and used the results as the basis for our geotechnical design recommendations for the project. We provided recommendations for foundations, bank stability, and best practices for construction at the site.

The City of New Orleans released the project for bidding in early May and plans for construction will begin shortly.

Built in the mid-1970s and named for mayor “Moon” Landrieu, the father of Mitch Landrieu, the Moonwalk replaced the Dumaine Street Wharf which had been built in 1918. The wharf was demolished after it had become unusable because of riverward movements.

Sean Walsh, P.E., and Patrick Thurmond, E.I., of the Engineering department in Metairie, and Wayne Journee, Todd Doucet, and Rene Davidson of the Drilling department in Metairie, worked on the project.