Mississippi Aerial River Transit

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MART gondola at the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition

The Mississippi Aerial River Transit, or simply MART was a gondola lift transport system spanning the Mississippi River in New Orleans, Louisiana constructed for the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition. Its station on the East Bank was located at the foot of Julia Street adjacent to what became the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The station on the West Bank was located along Teche Street adjacent to where Mardi Gras World in Algiers is located.

The system featured 53 separate cars, a 2,300 foot cross-river cable, twin steel towers that lifted the cable 200 feet into the air, two station houses, concrete pillars that anchored the cable and two 358-foot tall (109 meter) steel towers. Each of the two main towers were supported with 12 inch steel piles driven 285 feet into the ground. Each tower weighed 200 tons.

1 History
2 Companies involved in its construction
3 Trivia
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

Plans for the gondola were initially approved by the city on May 6, 1982. It was developed by the Mississippi Aerial River Transit-Perez Inc., or MART-Perez, which included noted local architect August Perez III. In 1983, the Banque De L'Union Europeene of Paris provided financing for the project through an $8 million loan.

During the fair, this was billed as the signature ride of the exhibition; however, it drew only 1.7 million riders, half as many as projected. Built to showcase a form of non-polluting commuter transit, after the fair the system was open for use by commuters traveling from Algiers in the West Bank to the Warehouse District across the river. By 1985, the system would shut down due to low ridership.

Later in 1985, the Banque De L'Union Europeene would file suite against MART-Perez when they defaulted on the $8 million loan. As a result on nonpayment, in 1986, MART was ordered by a federal court to pay the bank $5 million, plus $1.2 million in interest and attorney fees. However, MART never made a payment, and as a result, the gondola was seized by the United States Marshals Service in June 1989. After the seizure, the system was put up for auction in August with New York City businessman Moey Segal placing the winning bid of $1.6 million.

Segal intended to deconstruct the system and relocate it to Corpus Christi, Texas. It was intended to transport tourists from the primary hotel area to the Texas State Aquarium across the ship channel. Due to litigation, the proposal to move the system to Texas was dropped and Segal transferred its ownership to the 7349 Corp in 1990.

By late January 1993, the United States Coast Guard demanded that the system be demolished if it was not being used. In November 1993, the New Orleans City Council approved the demolition of the system and its demolition was complete by February 1994.

[edit] Companies involved in its construction

MART-Perez, Inc. - developer
Hewitt Washington & Associates - architect
Perez Associates/Studio Three - design consultant
Landis Construction - general contractor
Pomagalski SA - production of the towers and gondola system
Jenlynn International - tramway consultant
Alpha Associates - tramway consultant
Morphy, Makofsky and Masson - tower foundations and structural engineering
Engineering Planning Group - electrical and mechanical engineering
John F. Beasley Construction - tower installation
Banque De L'Union Europeene - financing

[edit] Trivia

Poster for French Quarter Undercover

Its twin towers were the tallest ever constructed for a gondola lift.
At the time of its construction, this was both the first urban aerial gondola commuter system in the United States as well as one of the largest privately owned mass transit systems in the world.
The ride took four minutes to complete and crossed over 300 feet above the Mississippi River.
The system had a maximum capacity of 2,000 passengers per hour.
On its maiden crossing, after being blessed by Archbishop Philip Hannan, the ride would temporarily stall.
The attraction is featured in the 1985 movie French Quarter Undercover, including being prominently shown on its movie posters.
On January 21, 1993, Christopher Vincent made local headlines by base-jumping from the top of the East Bank tower twice. He completed the stunt for the first time at approximately 10:30 a.m. and again later that afternoon at approximately 2:30 p.m. Each time he was successful in landing on the Mississippi River levee.
On August 19, 1993, four Greenpeace activists were successful in hanging a banner from the system that stated "Break the circle of poison" in protesting the shipment of toxic pesticides through the Port of New Orleans.
Several of the cars were sold off and reused elsewhere. Some of these reuses included fishing huts, a deer stand, and conversion to a bus-stop shelter. Most notably, The Olde N'Awlins Cookery briefly utilized five of the cars as restaurant booths.

[edit] References

Features. (May 12, 1983) "Aerial gondolas planned for New Orleans transit." Engineering News-Record.
Features. (May 3, 1984) "Fast-track tram over river." Engineering News-Record.
Cannizero, Steve. (September 8, 1989) "Gondola may yet rise above all in Corpus Christi." New Orleans Times-Picayune.
Metro reports. (August 20, 1993) "Hanging tough." New Orleans Times-Picayune.
Metro reports. (January 22, 1993) "Parachutist dives twice from gondola tower." New Orleans Times-Picayune.
Eggler, Bruce. (November 6, 1993) "Gondola finally has destination: demolition." New Orleans Times-Picayune.
Grady, Bill. (November 15, 1993) "Lord saved the cars, but the gondola will go." New Orleans Times-Picayune.
New Orleans Building Plans from the New Orleans Public Library, accessed 17 October 2006.
POMA Group: History from the Poma official website, accessed 18 October 2006.