St. Charles Streetcar Line
The St. Charles Streetcar line is a historic streetcar line in New Orleans, Louisiana, it is the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the world, as it has been in operation since 1835. It is operated by the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority; the St. Charles Streetcar line is internally designated as Route 12, it runs along its namesake street, St. Charles Avenue, it is the busiest route in the RTA system as it is used by local commuters and tourists. On most RTA maps and publications, it is denoted in green, the color of the streetcars on this line; the St. Charles line starts uptown, at South Claiborne Avenue, it runs on South Carrollton Avenue through the Carrollton neighborhood towards the Mississippi River near the river levee turns on to St. Charles Avenue, it proceeds past entrances to Audubon Park, Tulane University and Loyola University New Orleans, continues through Uptown New Orleans including the Garden District, ends at Canal Street in the New Orleans Central Business District at the edge of the French Quarter, a distance of 13.2 miles.
With the exception of Carondelet Street and the downtown portion of St. Charles where the line runs in the curbside lane, most of the line runs in the neutral ground with greenery between the tracks. Planning for the line began in 1831, work began as the New Orleans and Carrollton Rail Road in February 1833, the second railway in Greater New Orleans after the Pontchartrain Rail Road. Passenger and freight services by steam locomotives began on September 26, 1835 without a dedicated right-of-way, although one was established in the neutral ground. Service began as a suburban railroad, since Carrollton was at that time a separate city, while areas along the route were still undeveloped. Two locomotives New Orleans and Carrollton were supplied from England by B. Hick and Sons; as the area along the line became more urbanized, objections to the soot and noise produced by the locomotives increased, transport was switched to cars that were powered by horses and mules. For decades in the late 19th century, desire for a mode of transit more swift and powerful than horses but without the disruptive effects of locomotives resulted in a number of systems being tried out.
Experimental systems included overhead cable propulsion, several innovative designs by Dr. Emile Lamm, including ammonia engines, a "Chloride of Calcium Engine", most Lamm Fireless Engine which not only propelled pairs of cars along the line in the 1880s but was adopted by the street railways of Paris. While the city's first experiments with electric powered cars were made in 1884, electric streetcars were not considered sufficiently developed for widespread use until the following decade, the line was electrified February 1, 1893. At the same time, it was extended from the corner of St. Charles and Carrollton Avenues out Carrollton to a new car barn at Willow Street. In 1900, the St. Charles and Tulane streetcar lines were extended on Carrollton Avenue and connected together, resulting in a two-way belt line. Cars signed St. Charles left Canal Street on Baronne Street to Howard Avenue to St. Charles Avenue, thence all the way to Carrollton and out that avenue, returning to the central business district on Tulane Avenue.
Streetcars leaving Canal Street on Tulane Avenue were signed Tulane, operating out to Carrollton Avenue turning riverward to St. Charles Avenue, passing Lee Circle to Howard Avenue, down Baronne to Canal Street. In 1922 the New Orleans & Carrollton Rail Road was merged into New Orleans Public Service Incorporated, which consolidated the city's various streetcar lines and electrical production. In 1950, plans were made to fill in the New Basin Canal, which the Belt Lines crossed on a bridge on Carrollton Avenue; the right of way was to be used for the Pontchartrain Expressway, Carrollton Avenue traffic was to use an underpass. Rather than rebuild tracks in the underpass, the Tulane and St. Charles lines were separated, Tulane Avenue was converted to a trolley coach line. During construction, the St. Charles line continued to operate all the way on Carrollton Avenue from St. Charles Avenue to the underpass construction site at Dixon Street. Once the underpass was completed, the St. Charles streetcar line was cut back to Claiborne Avenue, as it operates at present, the Tulane trolley coach line took over the part of Carrollton Avenue between Tulane Avenue and Claiborne.
In 1972 automatic fareboxes were introduced, the job of a separate conductor was eliminated from the streetcars. The line still has one of the Bacon & Davis 1894 vintage cars in running condition. Although it is not used for passenger service, it stays busy with work operations such as track sanding; the rest of the line's cars date from 1923–24. In 1973, preservationists listed the St. Charles line on the National Register of Historic Places. For this reason, it is the only service in the RTA system not to have wheelchair access. Following a lawsuit, the RTA entered into a consent decree in 2017, agreeing to make six stops ADA compliant. At least one wheelchair lift-equipped car will be added to the line, but the historic Perley Thomas streetcars will not be modified. In 1983, the RTA was created to oversee public transportation in New Orleans, it assumed the operations of city bus lines and th
Canal Streetcar Line
The Canal Streetcar line is a historic streetcar line in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is operated by the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority, it operated from 1861 to 1964. It was redesigned and rebuilt between 2000 and 2004, operation was reinstated in 2004 after a 40-year hiatus. Running along its namesake street, Canal Street, it consists of two branches named for their outer terminals, totaling about 5 1⁄2 miles in length: "Canal - Cemeteries" and "Canal - City Park/Museum"; each branch is denoted with the red and light green colors on most RTA publications. Before the return of the line, the Canal Street corridor was served from 1964 to 2004 by several RTA bus lines utilizing the neutral ground in the Central Business District where the tracks now run; the trunk of the Canal Streetcar line travels a direct route along Canal Street from where it begins at Convention Center Boulevard to Carrollton Avenue where the two branches split. Tracks continue toward the River to the tracks utilized by the Riverfront line.
Effective Sunday September 30, 2018, both branches of the Canal line are extended on the Riverfront tracks between Canal Street and the French Market terminal at Esplanade. Leaving the downtown area, the line traverses several neighborhoods in the Mid-City portion of the city and consists of 3 miles inland; the "Cemeteries" branch continues on Canal Street past Carrollton Avenue to its terminus at Metairie Road, surrounded by several cemeteries. For much of its history, this area constituted the northern boundary of the city, which explains the density of cemeteries, Catholic and Jewish, in this area. Beginning July 31, 2017, completed on December 4, a new loop terminal was built north of City Park Avenue on Canal Boulevard, providing passengers with better access to transfer between the streetcars and connecting bus lines. Following a month of testing and training, the new loop went into service January 7, 2017; the "City Park/Museum" branch turns northward from Canal onto North Carrollton Avenue, where it runs in the inside lanes of the street rather than in the neutral ground.
It is reduced to a single track at the intersection of City Park/Moss Avenues and returns to the neutral ground before it ends at Beauregard Circle, at Esplanade Avenue and Bayou St. John, near the entrance of the New Orleans Museum of Art in City Park, it is within easy walking distance of the New Orleans Fairgrounds, site of the yearly Jazz and Heritage Festival. The Canal Cemeteries and City Park branches were designated as Routes 42 and 45 until January 2009, when the route numbers were changed to 47 and 48; the Canal Street Line traces its origins to the old New Orleans City RR Co. founded to provide horse-drawn streetcar service throughout the city. This system's first lines opened in June 1861, running on Esplanade, Magazine and Canal Streets; the original car barn for the Canal Line, which served it until the end in 1964, was established at White Street. The line ran on its namesake street from St. Charles Street to the car barn; the City RR came under the control of the New Orleans Traction Co. in 1892 as the system was prepared for electrification.
A large order for new electric streetcars was placed with the Brill Co. of Philadelphia. The Canal Line was the first New Orleans Traction line to be electrified, beginning electric service on July 28, 1894, it was followed quickly by Esplanade and the rest of the company's horsecar lines. The line was extended in the central business district to terminate at the foot of Canal Street, not far from the Mississippi River. In 1901, the streetcar company extended the Canal and Esplanade Lines so that their outer ends met at City Park Ave. and connected them together in a Belt Line. Canal cars left the central business district on Canal Street, operated to City Park Ave. turned down that street to Esplanade Ave. and returned on Esplanade to Rampart and thus back to Canal Street. Cars marked Esplanade left the central business district via Rampart Street down to Esplanade operated out Esplanade to City Park Ave. to Canal, returned on Canal Street. This Belt Line arrangement lasted until December 27, 1934, when Esplanade Ave. was converted to buses, Canal resumed running only on Canal Street, end-to-end.
From 1934 to 1950, there were two lines running on Canal Street. Cars marked West End operated from the foot of Canal to the outer end of the street at the cemeteries turned left onto City Park Avenue to the New Basin Canal, out the east bank of that canal to the West End amusement area at Lake Pontchartrain. Cars marked Cemeteries followed the same route, but turned back at the cemeteries after turning off of Metairie Road. West End made only limited stops along Canal Street from Claiborne Ave. to City Park Ave. The West End line was converted to buses in 1950, after which the surviving Cemeteries cars were once again signed Canal. In 1951, the outer terminus of the Canal Line was moved to the end of Canal Street, tracks on City Park Ave. were removed. In 1964, the streetcar company proposed to convert the Canal line to buses; the line was to be combined with the West End and Canal Boulevard bus lines, so that patrons could have a one-seat ride all the way from the central business district to Lake Pontchartrain.
There was tremendous controversy over the proposal from the
Public transport
Public transport is transport of passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public managed on a schedule, operated on established routes, that charge a posted fee for each trip. Examples of public transport include city buses, trolleybuses and passenger trains, rapid transit and ferries. Public transport between cities is dominated by airlines and intercity rail. High-speed rail networks are being developed in many parts of the world. Most public transport systems run along fixed routes with set embarkation/disembarkation points to a prearranged timetable, with the most frequent services running to a headway. However, most public transport trips include other modes of travel, such as passengers walking or catching bus services to access train stations. Share taxis offer on-demand services in many parts of the world, which may compete with fixed public transport lines, or compliment them, by bringing passengers to interchanges. Paratransit is sometimes used for people who need a door-to-door service.
Urban public transit differs distinctly among Asia, North America, Europe. In Asia, profit-driven, privately-owned and publicly traded mass transit and real estate conglomerates predominantly operate public transit systems In North America, municipal transit authorities most run mass transit operations. In Europe, both state-owned and private companies predominantly operate mass transit systems, Public transport services can be profit-driven by use of pay-by-the-distance fares or funded by government subsidies in which flat rate fares are charged to each passenger. Services can be profitable through high usership numbers and high farebox recovery ratios, or can be regulated and subsidised from local or national tax revenue. Subsidised, free of charge services operate in some towns and cities. For geographical and economic reasons, differences exist internationally regarding use and extent of public transport. While countries in the Old World tend to have extensive and frequent systems serving their old and dense cities, many cities of the New World have more sprawl and much less comprehensive public transport.
The International Association of Public Transport is the international network for public transport authorities and operators, policy decision-makers, scientific institutes and the public transport supply and service industry. It has 3,400 members from 92 countries from all over the globe. Conveyances designed for public hire are as old as the first ferries, the earliest public transport was water transport: on land people walked or rode an animal. Ferries appear in Greek mythology—corpses in ancient Greece were buried with a coin underneath their tongue to pay the ferryman Charon to take them to Hades; some historical forms of public transport include the stagecoach, traveling a fixed route between coaching inns, the horse-drawn boat carrying paying passengers, a feature of European canals from their 17th-century origins. The canal itself as a form of infrastructure dates back to antiquity – ancient Egyptians used a canal for freight transportation to bypass the Aswan cataract – and the Chinese built canals for water transportation as far back as the Warring States period which began in the 5th century BCE.
Whether or not those canals were used for for-hire public transport remains unknown. The omnibus, the first organized public transit system within a city, appears to have originated in Paris, France, in 1662, although the service in question failed a few months after its founder, Blaise Pascal, died in August 1662; the omnibus was introduced to London in July 1829. The first passenger horse-drawn railway opened in 1806: it ran between Swansea and Mumbles in southwest Wales in the United Kingdom. In 1825 George Stephenson built the Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in northeast England, the first public steam railway in the world; the first successful electric streetcar was built for 12 miles of track for the Union Passenger Railway in Richmond, Virginia in 1888. Electric streetcars could carry heavier passenger loads than predecessors, which reduced fares and stimulated greater transit use. Two years after the Richmond success, over thirty two thousand electric streetcars were operating in America.
Electric streetcars paved the way for the first subway system in America. Before electric streetcars, steam powered subways were considered. However, most people believed that riders would avoid the smoke filled subway tunnels from the steam engines. In 1894, Boston built the first subway in the United States, an electric streetcar line in a 1.5 mile tunnel under Tremont Street’s retail district. Other cities such as New York followed, constructing hundreds of miles of subway in the following decades. Aerial lift Aerial tramway Funifor Chairlift Detachable chairlift Funitel Gondola lift Maritime transport Ferry Cable ferry Reaction ferry Water taxi Land transport Personal public transport Bicycle-sharing system Carsharing Personal rapid transit Rail transport Inter-city rail High-speed rail Maglev Urban rail transit Airport rail link Atmospheric railway Automated guideway transit Cable car Cable railway Commuter rail Elevated railway Funicular Inclined elevator Light rail Medium-capacity rail system Mono
Veolia Transport
Veolia Transport was the international transport services division of the French-based multinational company Veolia Environnement until the 2011 merger that gave rise to Veolia Transdev. Veolia Transport traded under the brand names of Veolia Transportation in North America and Israel, Veolia Transport, Veolia Verkehr in Germany and with the former name Connex preserved in Lebanon and Jersey; until 2011, Veolia had diverse road and rail operations across the globe, employing 72,000 workers worldwide and serving or about 40 metropolitan areas with more than 1,000,000 inhabitants. The company was established on 1 January 1997 as CGEA Transport, created from the public transport business of Compagnie Générale d'Entreprises Automobiles, a subsidiary of Compagnie Générale des Eaux. CGEA was acquired by CGE in 1980, its waste management and environmental services division was rebranded Onyx Environnement in 1989, leaving CGEA with only the transport business. Compagnie générale française des transports et entreprises was acquired by CGE in the 1980s, was absorbed into CGEA in 1988.
CGE, the ultimate parent company, was renamed to Vivendi in 1998, created Vivendi Environnement in 1999 to consolidate its environmental divisions including the transport division. Viviendi Environnement was renamed Veolia Environnement in 2003; as a result, the name of CGEA Transport was rebranded Connex in 1999, adopting the brand that its South Central and South Eastern rail franchises in South East England had traded under since 1996. In 2005, as a result of global rebranding of all Veolia Environnement subsidiaries, Connex was renamed Veolia Transport; some operations such as Connex Melbourne retained logo. In 2007, the group posted revenues of €5.6 billion in 2007, sold Veolia Cargo, the rail freight branch of Veolia Transport in 2009 to SNCF and Eurotunnel. A merger between Veolia Transport and the old Transdev was announced on 23 July 2009. Transdev was a subsidiary of Caisse des Dépôts; the merger was completed in March 2011. Veolia Transdev became the world's private-sector leader in sustainable mobility with more than 110,000 employees in 28 countries.
Veolia Transdev was renamed and simplified to Transdev in 2013. In July 2011, amid disappointing financial results, Veolia Environnement announced the launch of new restructuring plans and redeployment of assets and businesses. In December 2011, Veolia announced a €5bn divestment program over 2012-2013; as part of this programme, Veolia would divest its participation in Transdev and exit the transport business altogether. In January 2019, Veolia sold the last of its Transdev shares to the Rethmann Group, the owner of Rhenus; the company is the third largest private sector operator of public transport and operates: 7 tramway networks across the country: 5 in service. Autocars De Polder has been part of the Veolia Group since 1995. Veolia operates some de Lijn routes under contract. Veolia Transport Belgium was passed on to Veolia Transdev until it was sold to a consortium consisting of Cube Infrastructure and Gimv in March 2014. Veolia ran half of the transport operations of the privatised Combus around Copenhagen.
Copenhagen: Suburban buses. These operations were sold to Arriva in October 2007. Helsinki: Veolia owns Helsinki Metropolitan Area's bus company Veolia Finland, Linjebuss and operates in Vantaa, a northern suburb of Helsinki. Tampere: Veolia owns the regional bus company known as Alhonen & Lastunen Seinäjoki: Veolia owns yet another local bus company, now known as Veolia Transport West Oy, operating both local and long-distance routes. Veolia Transport Finland Oy has since been passed on to Veolia Transdev and is now known as Transdev Finland Oy from 5 February 2015. Veolia Verkehr, former Connex Verkehr, offers train services, several of a regional character such as the Bayerische Oberlandbahn from Munich, two long-distance services. Veolia owns a number of bus companies in suburban areas, it operates tram systems: Aachen: Suburban buses, Berlin: Suburban tram line linking to the S Bahn, Frankfurt: Urban linepacks A&E, Suburban services, Bad Homburg: Urban & Suburban buses, Hagen: Urban network, Pforzheim: Urban network won by Veolia in August 2006.
Network included in "Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund GmbH" and linked to it by Tram-Train line, Schwäbisch Hall: Urban network, Stuttgart: Suburban buses...and into rural areas. Veolia Verkehr has since been passed on to Veolia Transdev and is now known as Transdev GmbH since March 2015. Dublin: Veolia operates the Luas tramway which started operations in June 2004. Operation of the Luas tramway has since been passed on to Veolia Transdev and renamed Transdev Ireland. Galway: Veolia owned the Nestor Airlink bus company which operates between Galway and Dublin Airport; however Jim Burke & Sons own and run it as of March 2009. Connex Transport Jersey operated bus services in Jersey between 29 September 2002 and 31 December 2012 under the Mybus brand. Veolia Transport
Transdev
Transdev Veolia Transdev, is a French-based international private public transport operator, with operations in 20 countries as of March 2019. The group was formed by the merger of Veolia Transport and Transdev on 3 April 2011. Veolia Environnement and Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations had 50% shareholdings, it was planned for the company to be sold by an initial public offering accompanied by a rebranding, within 12 months of the merger. On 6 December 2011 Veolia Environment, seeking to reduce debt and focus on its core businesses of water and energy, announced a €5 bn divestment program over 2012/13 that would include a sale of its share in Veolia Transdev within two years. At the time of the announcement, Veolia Transdev declared its intention to concentrate on four main markets, to develop UK, Asia and Australia and to divest from other countries and other activities amounting to about 9-10% of global revenue in 2012/13. After this announcement, the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, for its part reiterated its commitment to Veolia Transdev and its continued support as a shareholder to the group's development.
In early 2012 it was reported that Cube Infrastructure, a fund controlled by the French bank Natixis, was to acquire about half of Veolia's stake in Transdev. The Caisse des Dépôts would take over the other half; this was changed in October 2012 to Caisse des Dépôts acquiring 10% of the shares from Veolia. This however was not implemented. Following the sale of Transdev subsidiary SNCM in late 2015, CDC and Veolia continued talks about selling Veolia's stake in the joint venture. In December 2016, CDC bought 20% shares from Veolia; as a result, Veolia's share became 30% while CDC's share became 70%. In October 2018, Veolia announced its intention to sell its remaining 30% shareholding to the Rethmann Group; the transaction was completed in January 2019, with Rethmann increasing its shareholding to 34% by adding its Rhenus Veniro subsidiary to the Transdev portfolio. On 8 April 2019, Transdev announced its acquisition of Voyago, a Canadian-owned group of transportation companies, adding 970 more vehicles to its fleet of services.
At the time of merger, Transdev operated in the following 27 countries organised into seven geographical areas in 2014: France Benelux North America Germany and Central Europe The UK and Northern Europe Asia and the Pacific Southern Europe and the rest of the world In 2013 CEO Jérôme Gallot confirmed Veolia Transdev would consolidate its operations down to 17 countries. As of December 2018, Transdev operates in 20 countries organised into four regions, spanning across six continents. New Caledonia is not counted as one of the countries, its former MyBus operations in Jersey were not counted. Additionally, Transdev is a shareholder of Transamo, a transport engineering and consultancy firm in Europe, inherited from the old Transdev, it specialises in the project management of public transport projects in France. Société de Transports intercommunaux de Bruxelles is the other major shareholder of Transamo. Transdev's subsidiary Société Varoise de Transports has operated two lines of the Bouches du Rhône district network since 1 January 2014, serving a population of more than one million inhabitants.
Transdev owned 66 % of a French ferry company operating in the Mediterranean. However, as of 2014, Transdev was planning to sell its shares. SNCM was sold to a Corsican firm Rocca Group in late 2015 and was renamed Maritima Ferries in January 2016. Thello operates trains between France. In July 2015, Transdev commenced operating 17 coach routes under the Isilines brand to coincide with the deregulation of the French coach market. Transdev Netherlands is made up of two operations and Witte Kruis. There used to be an additional operation called Veolia Transport Nederland, until the branding was discontinued and replaced by Connexxion in December 2016. Transdev Netherlands was set up in December 2015 to group the three operations together under one brand, after bringing Connexxion and Veolia Transport Nederland under one management earlier in May that year; each operation continued to exist separately with its branding unchanged until the rebranding of Veolia Transport Nederland. This arrangement was planned since the global rebranding of Veolia Transdev in 2013.
In October 2007 Transdev acquired a 50% shareholding in Connexxion. In February 2013 Transdev's shareholding increased to 86%. Veolia Transport Nederland operated bus and ferry services around Netherlands since 1997. In December 2016, the last remaining concession of Veolia Transport Nederland was rebranded to Connexxion. Witte Kruis is Transdev's mobile care organization in Netherlands. In Belgium, Veolia Transdev's operations were known as Veolia Transport Belgium. VTB was sold to a consortium consisting of Cube Infrastructure and Gimv in March 2014. Transdev North America Veolia Transportation until August/September 2014, is the North American business unit of Transdev, it operates a number of public transport services across the United States and Canada. Transdev North America's operations can be split into four divisions: Transit, Rail, On-Demand and IntelliRi
Mercedes-Benz Superdome
The Mercedes-Benz Superdome referred to as the Superdome, is a domed sports and exhibition venue located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, United States. It serves as the home venue for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League, the home stadium for the Sugar Bowl, New Orleans Bowl in college football and the longtime rivalry football game of the SWAC Conference’s Southern University and Grambling State University, known as the Bayou Classic, it houses their schools’ Battle of the Bands between The Southern University "The Human Jukebox" and Grambling State’s Tiger Marching Band. Plans were drawn up in 1967 by the New Orleans modernist architectural firm of Curtis and Davis and the building opened as the Louisiana Superdome in 1975, its steel frame covers a 13-acre expanse and the 273-foot dome is made of a lamellar multi-ringed frame and has a diameter of 680 feet, making it the largest fixed domed structure in the world. It is adjacent to the Smoothie King Center.
Because of the building's size and location in one of the major tourist destinations of the United States, the Superdome hosts major sporting events, including the Super Bowl, College Football Championship Game, the Final Four in college basketball. The stadium was the long-time home of the Tulane Green Wave football team of Tulane University until 2014 and was the home venue of the New Orleans Jazz of the National Basketball Association from 1975 until 1979; the Superdome gained international attention of a different type in 2005 when it housed thousands of people seeking shelter from Hurricane Katrina. The building suffered extensive damage as a result of the storm, was closed for many months afterward, it was decided the building would be refurbished and reopened in time for the Saints' 2006 home opener on September 25. On October 3, 2011, it was announced that German automaker Mercedes-Benz purchased naming rights to the stadium; the new name took effect on October 23, 2011. The Superdome is located on 70 acres including the former Girod Street Cemetery.
The dome has an interior space of 125,000,000 cubic feet, a height of 253 feet, a dome diameter of 680 feet, a total floor area of 269,000 square feet. The Superdome has a listed football seating capacity of 76,468 or 73,208 and a maximum basketball seating capacity of 73,432. However, published attendance figures from events such as the Super Bowl football game have exceeded 79,000; the basketball capacity does not reflect the NCAA's new policy on arranging the basketball court on the 50-yard line on the football field, per 2009 NCAA policy. In 2011, 3,500 seats were added, increasing the Superdome's capacity to 76,468; the Superdome's capacity was 78,133 for WWE WrestleMania 34. The actual capacity is 73,208 people; the chronology of the capacity for football is as follows: The Superdome's primary tenant is the NFL's New Orleans Saints. The team draws capacity crowds; the NFL has hosted seven Super Bowls at the Superdome, most Super Bowl XLVII in 2013. The Superdome is scheduled to host its eighth Super Bowl in 2024.
The 1976 Pro Bowl was held at the Superdome on Monday, January 26, 1976. It was the NFL's 26th annual all-star game. Tulane University played their home games at the stadium from 1975 to 2013 before moving to on-campus Yulman Stadium; the BCS National Championship Game was played at the Superdome four times. The College Football Playoff semifinal game is played every three years in the stadium. Two other bowl games are played there annually: the Sugar Bowl and New Orleans Bowl; the Superdome hosts the Bayou Classic, a major regular-season game between two of the state's black colleges and universities, Grambling State and Southern. In 2013, the Arena Football League New Orleans VooDoo played their last six home games of the season at the stadium. From 1991 to 1992, the New Orleans Night of the AFL played at the stadium; the annual Louisiana Prep Classic state championship football games organized by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association have been held at the Superdome since 1981, except in 2005 following the extreme damage of Hurricane Katrina.
The first state championship game in the stadium matched New Orleans Catholic League powers St. Augustine and Jesuit on December 15, 1978; the Purple Knights won their second Class AAAA title in four seasons by ousting the Blue Jays, 13–7, in front of over 42,000 fans. Home field advantageSince the Superdome's reopening in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the increased success of the New Orleans Saints, the Superdome has developed a reputation for having a strong home field advantage. While all domed stadiums possess this quality to some degree, the Superdome is known to get loud during games during offensive drives by the visiting team. During a pregame interview before the Minnesota Vikings' opening game of the 2010 NFL season against the Saints, Brett Favre, reflecting on the Vikings' loss to the Saints in the 2009–10 NFC Championship Game, said of the Superdome: "That was, by far, the most hostile environment I've been in. You couldn't hear anything." It was during that loss. It was the first game of the season.
When the plaza level seats remained moveable, the capacity for baseball was 63,525 and the field size was as followed: 325 feet to both left field and right field, 365 feet to both left-center field and right-center field, 421 feet to center field, 60 feet to the backstop. The bowl
New Orleans
New Orleans is a consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the southeastern region of the U. S. state of Louisiana. With an estimated population of 393,292 in 2017, it is the most populous city in Louisiana. A major port, New Orleans is considered an economic and commercial hub for the broader Gulf Coast region of the United States. New Orleans is world-renowned for its distinct music, Creole cuisine, unique dialect, its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras; the historic heart of the city is the French Quarter, known for its French and Spanish Creole architecture and vibrant nightlife along Bourbon Street. The city has been described as the "most unique" in the United States, owing in large part to its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. Founded in 1718 by French colonists, New Orleans was once the territorial capital of French Louisiana before being traded to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. New Orleans in 1840 was the third-most populous city in the United States, it was the largest city in the American South from the Antebellum era until after World War II.
The city's location and flat elevation have made it vulnerable to flooding. State and federal authorities have installed a complex system of levees and drainage pumps in an effort to protect the city. New Orleans was affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which resulted in flooding more than 80% of the city, thousands of deaths, so much displacement because of damaged communities and lost housing as to cause a population decline of over 50%. Since Katrina, major redevelopment efforts have led to a rebound in the city's population. Concerns about gentrification, new residents buying property in closely knit communities, displacement of longtime residents have been expressed; the city and Orleans Parish are coterminous. As of 2017, Orleans Parish is the third most-populous parish in Louisiana, behind East Baton Rouge Parish and neighboring Jefferson Parish; the city and parish are bounded by St. Tammany Parish and Lake Pontchartrain to the north, St. Bernard Parish and Lake Borgne to the east, Plaquemines Parish to the south, Jefferson Parish to the south and west.
The city anchors the larger New Orleans metropolitan area, which had an estimated population of 1,275,762 in 2017. It is the most populous metropolitan area in Louisiana and the 46th-most populated MSA in the United States; the city is named after the Duke of Orleans, who reigned as Regent for Louis XV from 1715 to 1723. It has many illustrative nicknames: Crescent City alludes to the course of the Lower Mississippi River around and through the city; the Big Easy was a reference by musicians in the early 20th century to the relative ease of finding work there. It may have originated in the Prohibition era, when the city was considered one big speakeasy due to the government's inability to control alcohol sales, in open violation of the 18th Amendment; the City that Care Forgot has been used since at least 1938, refers to the outwardly easy-going, carefree nature of the residents. La Nouvelle-Orléans was founded in the Spring of 1718 by the French Mississippi Company, under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, on land inhabited by the Chitimacha.
It was named for Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, Regent of the Kingdom of France at the time. His title came from the French city of Orléans; the French colony was ceded to the Spanish Empire in the Treaty of Paris, following France's defeat by Great Britain in the Seven Years' War. During the American Revolutionary War, New Orleans was an important port for smuggling aid to the rebels, transporting military equipment and supplies up the Mississippi River. Beginning in the 1760s, Filipinos began to settle around New Orleans. Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez launched a southern campaign against the British from the city in 1779. Nueva Orleans remained under Spanish control until 1803, when it reverted to French rule. Nearly all of the surviving 18th-century architecture of the Vieux Carré dates from the Spanish period, notably excepting the Old Ursuline Convent. Napoleon sold Louisiana to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Thereafter, the city grew with influxes of Americans, French and Africans.
Immigrants were Irish, Germans and Italians. Major commodity crops of sugar and cotton were cultivated with slave labor on nearby large plantations. Thousands of refugees from the 1804 Haitian Revolution, both whites and free people of color, arrived in New Orleans. While Governor Claiborne and other officials wanted to keep out additional free black people, the French Creoles wanted to increase the French-speaking population; as more refugees were allowed into the Territory of Orleans, Haitian émigrés who had first gone to Cuba arrived. Many of the white Francophones had been deported by officials in Cuba in retaliation for Bonapartist schemes. Nearly 90 percent of these immigrants settled in New Orleans; the 1809 migration brought 2,731 whites, 3,102 free people of color, 3,226 slaves of African descent, doubling the city's population. The city became a greater proportion than Charleston, South Carolina's 53 percent. During the final campaign of the War of 1812, the British sent a force of 11,000 in a
