Elysian Fields Avenue

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Elysian Fields Avenue is a long, straight, wide street in New Orleans named after Paris' Champs-Élysées avenue. It courses south to north from the Lower Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain, a distance of approximately 8 kilometers (5 mi). The avenue intersects with Interstate 610, Interstate 10, and U.S. Highway 90. The part between N. Claiborne Avenue (Louisiana Highway 39) and Gentilly Boulevard (U.S. Route 90) is Louisiana Highway 3021 (LA 3021); the piece from N. Claiborne Avenue south to St. Claude Avenue carries Louisiana Highway 46 (which turns east on St. Claude Avenue).

For more than half of its route, from the river to Gentilly Boulevard (U.S. Route 90), it is six lanes wide; the remainder north of Gentilly Boulevard is four lanes wide. Anchoring the lake end and river end (northern and southern termini) respectively are the University of New Orleans and the Esplanade Avenue Wharf.

The location of Elysian Fields Avenue originated in the early 1800s placement of a sawmill canal on the Marigny Plantation, which at that time was just outside of New Orleans proper (the present French Quarter).^[1] In 1831 the Pontchartrain Railroad was built from that location straight to Lake Pontchartrain.^[2] The railroad carried both goods and passengers.^[2] Among the railroad's steady revenue sources was mail, which was carried from New Orleans to Lake Pontchartain for transfer to Mobile, Alabama-bound ships. The railroad, which came to be known locally as "Smoky Mary", operated until 1935.^[3] The tracks were removed in the 1950s.^[4]

Two RTA bus routes operated on Elysian Fields Avenue: one local (est. in the 1950s, first known as just Elysian Fields, and later 55 Elysian Fields), the other an express (est. December 5, 1960, first known as Express 91 - Pontchartrain Beach via Elysian Fields, later 56 Elysian Fields Express). Both routes were shut down before the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina; as of November 28, 2005 only the Elysian Fields local route has been returned to service.

Elysian Fields was also the street on which Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire took place.

[edit] Geographic coordinates

• 30.03037° N 90.061623° W - northern terminus at Lake Pontchartrain
• 29.999399° N 90.059095° W - Gentilly Boulevard
• 29.991.067° N 90.0584° W - Interstate 610
• 29.98.0151° N 90.05673° W - Interstate 10
• 29.9615° N 90.0565° W - southern terminus at Mississippi River

[edit] References

1. ^ History. Faubourg Marigny Improvement Association. Retrieved on 2006-04-24.
2. ^ ^{a b} Antebellum Louisiana: Urban Life. Louisiana State Museum - The Cabildo. Retrieved on 2006-04-24.
3. ^ Crescent City Choo Choo. New Orleans Public Library. Retrieved on 2006-04-24.
4. ^ A History of the Faubourg Marigny Historic District. Retrieved on 2006-04-24.

[edit] See also

• Elysian Fields
• Brother Martin High School