New Orleans Panel Recommends Closing Shipping Waterway

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commission charged with setting plans to rebuild New Orleans has proposed eliminating a 76-mile shipping channel that was a prime cause of flooding after Hurricane Katrina, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

The plan calls on authorities to close the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, a shortcut from the river to the coast that cuts through a corner of the city, the paper said in a front-page story.

Sometimes known as “Mr. Go,” the $92 million byway was cited as a big economic boost to the city when it opened in the 1960’s, the Times said. Following Katrina, it was a major source of the flooding to the eastern half of New Orleans when the storm surged in from the Gulf of Mexico on Aug. 29.

Port of New Orleans officials have defended the byway as a critical segment of the region’s shipping industry, the paper reported. But local officials have reached a consensus that it should be closed, it reported.

he recommendations, which also included adding a new light-rail system and revamping the city’s schools, were among many to be announced starting Wednesday by the Bring Back New Orleans Commission, a panel created by Mayor Ray Nagin in the wake of Katrina in September, the Times said.