Lake Pontchartrain Bike Path Update - Jefferson Parish

Long ago when I was a teenager, a linear park was created along the shore of Lake Pontchartrain in Jefferson Parish. During the summertime, I'd ride the paved bike path from end to end about once a week. Recently, I revisited the trail; here's what I found.

My memories of the trail were a great view of the lake, a linear bramble of weeds and young trees stretching about 150' wide and a seldom used bike path about 20 miles long. The lake views are still great but the trail has changed. The biggest change is the lack of overgrown vegetation. As a result of ongoing work to build up the hurricane protection levee, virtually all of the trees were bull dozed. The no man's land of brambles and rip rap that stretched between the levee and the bike path are gone too. Where the levee work has been completed, the linear park is just one long, mowed lawn.

Portions of the lakefront bike path (Williams Blvd west to the parish line and the segment between Causeway and the canal by East Jefferson Hospital) remain closed to traffic as work continues on rebuilding the flood protection levees. Other segments of the lakefront trail (such as a critical connector bridge at the Bonnabel Boat Launch and the underpass below the Causeway) are still closed due to storm damage. Bike trail segments that are open are smooth for the most part; however, with the trail running right up against the lake shore, some points of the trail are a little bumpy from settling. Every now and then, riders must also navigate over a layer of clam shells and flotsam that have washed up with the high tide or wave action.

Jefferson Parish being the traffic nightmare that it is post Katrina, it's refreshing to get out on the lakefront linear path. Other than the excellent linear path along the Mississippi River, the lake front trail is one of the only places in the entire metro area where riders need not interact with motor vehicles for miles and miles.