SUN-A08: The Bridge, North Claiborne Avenue, and Treme

Sunday, October 12, 2025

8:30 AM – 9:45 AM CT

1.25 PDH, LA CES/HSW

Speaker(s)

Melissa Lemuz, Assoc. ASLA (she/her/hers)

Landscape Designer
DesignJones LLC
Arlington, Texas
Whawn M. Allen, AIA (she/her/hers)

Principal Architect
Whawn Allen Architects and Construction Consultants (WAACC)
New Orleans, Louisiana
Nyree A. Ramsey

Executive Director
Cultural Innovation District (CID)
New Orleans, Louisiana

One of the most controversial problems in New Orleans is the future of the I-10 bridge. Exploring the future of the life under the bridge is just as critical. The panel will explore how historical, economic, and cultural influences work together to claim and control public land and to navigate governmental constraints.

Learning Outcomes:

Learn about North Claiborne Avenue’s neutral ground’s history as both the longest strand of live oaks in America and an anchor for economic and cultural African American life in Faubourg Treme.
Learn innovative planning & design strategies from the CCID project for neighborhoods and adjacent communities wanting to claim and control public land under urban freeway bridges.
Increase your understanding of how to successfully navigate governmental constraints for designing and constructing projects on sites owned and operated by multilayered local, state, and/or federal oversight authorities.
Understand a set of cultural- and environmental-positive principles tied to the use of public land under the I-10 bridge, as the fate of the bridge is determined.