Moroccan Palms Soften Canal Street Streetscape Renovation

   
A Medjool date palm being installed with its ?EUR??,,????'??hair up,?EUR??,,????'?? and as the palms appear unfurled.

Phoenix dactylifera Medjool date palms are being planted along Canal Street in New Orleans, part of the Canal Improvement Project. The trees will run 17 blocks from S. Clairborne Ave, just northeast of the Louisiana Superdome, all the way down to the Mississippi River. Southeast of N. Rampart, Canal Street becomes the southeasterly border of the French Quarter.

Some 48 palms, with their fronds tied up, are already planted. A total of 239 of the Moroccan palms (grown in Bard Valley, Ca., and costing nearly $7,000 a piece) are scheduled for installation, with a completion date around Nov. 2006.

Granite and brick sidewalks, new lighting and granite sidewalk extensions (bump outs) at each street corner are also part of the nearly $13 million streetscape renovation that broke ground in Feb. 2005.

Torre Design Consortium Ltd. of New Orleans, headed by L. Azio Torre, FASLA, AIA, has done the master planning. Boh Bros. Construction Co., also of New Orleans, is the general contractor.