Timothy Nickel
Project Management Administrator, LADOTD
With a new airport comes a lot of excitement and economic opportunity, but increased travel and tourism also mean increased traffic demands.
To serve these demands, the LADOTD is working on a new flyover for the Interstate10/Loyola Drive interchange to replace the current flyover on Williams Boulevard.
“Congestion currently exists on Loyola Drive at its interchange with I-10 and at its intersection with Veterans Boulevard and is expected to worsen with future traffic from the airport’s new North Terminal,” explains Timothy Nickel, LADOTD’s project manager.
A New Orleans native, Nickel is a registered professional engineer with 20 years’ experience in design build, innovative design, expedited projects and projects with environmental sensitivities such as the I-49 Lafayette Connector ($1.2 billion) and elevated LA 1 project in Leeville ($350 million). The Loyola Drive project will bring all of Nickel’s experience into play, plus it is likely to consist of complex ramp structures and roadways while maintaining traffic and minimizing impacts of day-to-day activities in the area.
Many of these large jobs entail working closely with other organizations in a team effort to deliver a project beneficial to all involved. For example, the Loyola interchange includes the airport, both the cities of Kenner and New Orleans, along with Jefferson Parish and the Regional Planning Commission.
“We’re currently in design build procurement and we’re expecting to receive environmental clearance by the end of 2018,” says Nickel, “with construction to begin in the summer/fall of 2019. Depending on the proposed design, we are hoping to finish construction in three years, with costs estimated to be up to $125 million.”
