A highway underpass that was a frequent stop for food trucks is getting a permanent makeover as New Orleans prepares to host the upcoming Super Bowl at the nearby Caesars Superdome.
The new $2.1 million “Earhart Food Truck Plaza,” scheduled to be completed by early February, aims to draw hungry tourists to the long-neglected concrete lots under the Pontchartrain Expressway near Earhart Boulevard and Claiborne Avenue. It also sits directly across from a large encampment that Gov. Landry’s administration set up in October, when state police relocated dozens of homeless people living along Calliope Street ahead of pop star Taylor Swift’s concerts in October.

A man carries a tent with law enforcement to the back of a truck as an encampment beneath the U.S. 90 overpass at Calliope Street and Loyola Avenue is cleared in New Orleans on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024.
On Thursday, workers put the finishing touches on gravel landscaping that will soon be appointed with benches and tables. Blue planters dotted the area, and artists had begun work on bright murals that will cover large concrete columns.

The future site of a a food truck plaza on Earhart Boulevard near the superdome and across the Home Depot, photographed in New Orleans, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Staff Photo by David Grunfeld, The Times-Picayune)
“Our food truck proprietors have made this location special… by setting up their trucks despite previous conditions, and I am excited about what this project will do for our small businesses and our city as a whole,” Mayor LaToya Cantrell said in a statement Friday.
The city is using bond revenue to pay for the plaza, which will be home to eight food trucks and include landscaping aimed at eliminating flooding in the area, the statement said.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell in New Orleans on Nov. 26, 2024.
The revamp comes as officials rush to complete a long list of infrastructure fixes ahead of the Super Bowl on Feb. 9, when thousands of tourists are expected to descend on New Orleans. It also comes as the city and state have clashed in recent months over efforts to clean up the stretch of the U.S. 90 underpass nearest to the Caesars Superdome.

The future site of a a food truck plaza on Earhart Boulevard near the superdome and across the Home Depot, photographed in New Orleans, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Staff Photo by David Grunfeld, The Times-Picayune)
Landry, frustrated by the pace of the city’s progress on a plan to move people from homeless encampments into subsidized housing, directed state law enforcement agencies in October to relocate the camps to a more isolated stretch of the highway underpass towards Claiborne Avenue.
That encampment is now packed with dense rows of tents. Shane Guidry, a close advisor to the governor in New Orleans, said on Friday that the administration would be releasing a plan in early January for the site.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry speaks during a press conference, Wednesday, October 23, 2024.
“We are coming up with something that makes sense for everyone—including the homeless—for cold and flu season and the busy Super Bowl and Mardi Gras season, too,” he said.
A spokesperson for Cantrell did not respond to questions about the encampment or its proximity to the new plaza.
Vendors ‘waiting for answers’
For years, food trucks have attracted a buzz of activity on an otherwise deserted stretch of Earhart across from the Home Depot.
As cars whizzed by, customers—often donning yellow safety vests—chowed down on enchiladas and tostadas out of Styrofoam clamshell containers at white folding tables.
Displaced by the construction in recent months, the food trucks have moved to the blocks surrounding the home improvement store instead, with plastic chairs crowded onto the sidewalk.
Oscar Chavez, who sells food from his native El Salvador out of a hot pink truck on Erato Street, said business has been slow.
He was a regular customer at the trucks on Earhart—often stopping by for a bite between jobs as a contractor—before deciding to open his own food truck earlier this year. By the time he got his permits approved, construction on the new food truck plaza had begun.
“It looks beautiful,” said Chavez, who noted that a nearby junkyard has since been demolished as part of the redevelopment.
But vendors say they haven’t gotten any word from city officials about when the area will reopen and how they can snag one of the eight slots.
A spokesperson for Cantrell said the administration is in the process of determining the protocol for vendor selection “to ensure equity and inclusion.”
“We’re still waiting for answers,” Chavez said.