"The businesses are just starting to look at a busy fall season and they need to have their doors open and sidewalks and streets open," Erin Holmes, executive director of the Vieux Carré Property Owners and Residents Association, told NOLA.com in early October. "The Sewerage & Water Board needs to make sure that it does not last a second more than three weeks."
She was talking about the 900 block of Decatur Street, between St. Philip and Dumaine. The rest of lower Decatur is further along. The bars and restaurants on the 1100 block, which have been behind green-screened construction fencing for most of a year, are back on an open street. The 1000 block is open to people on foot while crews finish its asphalt and sidewalks. The block furthest behind runs past Central Grocery up to the Joan of Arc statue.
The street is reopening from the Esplanade end
The project is the Sewerage & Water Board's French Quarter Transmission Main, a FEMA-funded replacement of a 24-inch water main that was about 115 years old. It runs along the 900 to 1100 blocks of Decatur and the 600 block of St. Peter Street between Chartres and Royal. WWL reported that it is the seventh transmission main replacement SWBNO has completed since 2018. The water board has said the work "will help improve water pressure in many parts of Orleans Parish."
The work began in 2025, and the finish date moved several times. Gambit reported that businesses were first told February, then spring, then summer, then fall. Fox 8 reported in June that historical artifacts found during the dig triggered federally required archaeological review and caused at least two of those delays.
SWBNO's October 20, 2026 construction update lists the status block by block. Sewer, drainage and water work is finished on all four segments. What remains is the surface.
| Segment | Between | Pavement | Sidewalks | Status on Oct. 20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 600 St. Peter | Chartres to Royal | 100% | 100% | Complete |
| 1100 Decatur | Gov. Nicholls to Ursulines | 100% | 100% | Open to vehicles, striping pending |
| 1000 Decatur | Ursulines to St. Philip | 97% | 85% | Open to pedestrians |
| 900 Decatur | St. Philip to Dumaine | 15% | 0% | Roadway being formed for concrete |
The update lists the 900 block's estimated completion as "Fall 2026." SWBNO had earlier given WWL an end-of-October target for the full project. In this final phase, crews are pouring both sides of the roadway at once. That is why North Peters is closed alongside Decatur, and why river-bound drivers are detoured onto Dumaine and then Chartres.
When crews broke up the old road surface near the Little Toy Shop in October, they found steel rails from a long-gone streetcar line under the pavement, NOLA.com reported. The fenced work zone reached all the way to the Joan of Arc statue.
The block that came back first is the locals' block
The paving order matters because of what is on each block. In a NOLA.com guide to the construction zone, food critic Ian McNulty described lower Decatur as its own microclimate, "centered on the 1100 block," with "many small restaurants and bars geared more to locals than visitors and fun shops in between." Gambit's John Stanton called the stretch the last trace of the Quarter's bohemian history, a favorite of musicians, journalists and service-industry workers coming off long shifts.
That is the block SWBNO now lists as open to cars. The businesses McNulty mapped on and around it this spring:
- Molly's at the Market, 1107 Decatur, the Irish bar with a window counter that looks out on the sidewalk
- Coop's Place, 1109 Decatur, known for its rabbit jambalaya and smoked duck quesadillas
- Cane & Table, 1113 Decatur, modern Latin American food and cocktails
- Le Bouchon Wine, 1118 Decatur, a wine bar and wine and spirits shop
- Turtle Bay, 1119 Decatur, the bar that posted a daily counter tracking how long the road work had run
- Lebanon Grill, 1122 Decatur
- The Abbey, 1123 Decatur
- O.K. Ice Cream, 1129 Decatur, scoops in specialty cones
- Santos, 1135 Decatur, bar and music venue
- Zhang Bistro, 1141 Decatur, a split Chinese and Thai menu; McNulty singled out the salt and pepper shrimp
Gambit also named Aunt Tiki's as a late-night stop on the same stretch. One block up, French Toast at 1035 Decatur is on the 1000 block, which is open to pedestrians. Central Grocery, at 923, sits on the 900 block, the segment furthest from finished.
What the year cost the block
Three businesses on these blocks did not make it to reopening. Dead on Decatur, a curio and gift shop at 1125 Decatur, closed in May after its sales fell by half. Café Sbisa, one of the city's oldest restaurants, served its last meal at 1011 Decatur on June 7. LUFU, a second location of the Indian restaurant whose first outpost at 301 St. Charles Ave. received a Michelin Bib Gourmand nod, announced on June 10 that it was closing its Decatur dining room at 1117.
For the businesses that stayed, the losses were steep. Turtle Bay co-owner Steve Smith estimated almost $500,000 in cumulative losses over 12 months, according to WWL. In the same report, Cane & Table owner Kirk Estopinal said sales fell when the fencing went up. Taking the fences down made a measurable difference. Fox 8 reported on August 1 that Molly's had seen sales fall 12 to 25 percent during construction, and its manager said those losses had been cut in half since the fencing in front of the bar came down.
Where a shop sat also made a difference. On the 900 block this October, a longtime clerk at Nawlins Sports Store told NOLA.com that shops on the river side of Decatur had "more available sidewalk" than storefronts across the street, which the construction squeezed harder.
How the neighborhood and the city have responded
The businesses organized before the city did. On May 24, under the name Defend Decatur, they held an all-day event across the affected blocks. Santos opened early with 11 bands starting at 1 p.m., and other bars and restaurants ran specials. Gambit described crowds packing the narrow sidewalks that day.
The city followed in summer with a Business Stabilization Fund. The first round, with recipients notified July 24, gave $97,500 to 26 French Quarter businesses that together employed 242 workers, New Orleans CityBusiness reported. On October 30, Mayor Helena Moreno's office announced a second round for businesses along the lower Decatur and St. Peter corridors, with awards of up to $2,500. The Greater New Orleans Foundation lists applications as due November 11, 2026, so a shop owner on the block still has time to apply.
The last stretch, from St. Philip to Dumaine
Most of the work left is on one block of Decatur, from St. Philip to Dumaine, past Central Grocery and the Little Toy Shop to the Joan of Arc statue, along with North Peters behind it. Until the 900 block reopens, river-bound drivers still turn at Dumaine and run up Chartres. Anyone with questions about the remaining work can reach SWBNO Community Outreach at 504-585-2232 or [email protected].
The 1100 block doesn't depend on that last pour. Coop's, Molly's, Cane & Table, Santos and their neighbors are on a street SWBNO already lists as open to traffic.
Streetscape changes like this one affect how a French Quarter block lives day to day, and they shape what buyers and owners can expect from the addresses around them. If you're weighing a home or an investment near lower Decatur and want a block-by-block read on the area, The Kathryn Collection can help. Schedule a free consultation.
