Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Although the flooding caused by hurricanes Betsy (1965) and Camille (1969)
exposed the dangers of urbanized marshlands, the introduction in 1965 of the HPS
and in 1968 of the NFIP encouraged continued urban sprawl after 1970. This is what
Burby [BUR 06] calls “the paradox of safe development” - very slight urban sprawl
in an unchanging metropolitan surface area (see Figure 9.4).
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USA
MSA
Central City
Suburbs
Figure 9.4.
New Orleans MSA, population growth, 1970-2000
Following levee construction along Lakes Pontchartrain and Borgne, the HPS
was extended to the right bank of the Mississippi (West Bank of Jefferson Parish)
beginning in 1991. In this way, suburban development was promoted south of the
Mississippi River, even though these neighborhoods were poorly linked to the rest
of the city. (The East and West Banks of the metropolitan area are served by two
bridges, one of which is a narrow roadbed railway bridge built in 1935, the Huey
Long Bridge, and four ferryboat crossings.)
Thus, while the number of households within the HPS perimeters increased by
31% between 1970 and 2000, 97% of this growth was more than 15 km (9 miles)
from New Orleans City Hall. The number of households living at elevations below
sea level rose from fewer than 150,000 in 1970 (50% of households in the
metropolitan area) to over 222,500 in 2000, an increase of 50% compared to an
increase of only 12% for households in areas above the mean sea level (as
determined in 1988). Thus, the standard distance between any household and the
barycenter of the metropolitan area increased from 7.6 km in 1970 to 10.1 km in
2000 (see Figure 9.5).
