Greater New Orleans

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For information on the events of Hurricane Katrina, see Effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans.

The New Orleans Metropolitan Area, or Greater New Orleans, is the largest metropolitan area in Louisiana, centered around New Orleans. The 2000 U.S. Census official designation of the area as the New Orleans-Metairie, LA MSA with a population of 1,337,726 spread among nine parishes located in southeastern Louisiana.

Contents

Parishes

Cities

Central Areas of Business

Places between 10,000 and 50,000 inhabitants

Places with less than 10,000 inhabitants

Geographic Divisions

Greater New Orleans is divided into several clearly defined primary areas. This is mainly due to the presence of Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River. The four main divisions of the region are named: East Bank, West Bank, North Shore, and the River Parishes. The layout of the given names of the East Bank and West Bank are unusual because the Mississippi River actually meanders through the region in a more east-to-west orientation rather than north-to-south. However, the reasoning behind the given names of the 2 regions is the fact that the East Bank is on the side of the Mississippi with the Eastern half of the United States. The same reasoning is behind the naming the West Bank.

East Bank

The "East Bank" is home to most of the City of New Orleans and the most densely populated portion of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, as well as many of the region's major suburbs. These suburbs include Metairie, Kenner, Jefferson, and Harahan on that side of the river.

Further down the river are the much smaller suburbs of Arabi, Chalmette, Meraux, Pointe a la Hache, and Violet. All of St. Bernard Parish and the eastern portion of Plaquemines Parish is located on this bank. Most of these suburbs and parishes make up the southeastern portions of the Greater New Orleans area.

West Bank

The West Bank is home to other Jefferson Parish communities of Gretna, Terrytown, Harvey, Marrero, Westwego, Bridge City, and Avondale. The western portion of Plaquemines Parish is also located here along with Belle Chasse, connected to the other suburbs by the Belle Chase Highway. The New Orleans communities of Algiers, Aurora Gardens, Cutoff, Stanton, and Tall Timbers, are located across the Mississippi from the Central Business District (CBD) on the West Bank, but have long maintained their separate entities.

North Shore

The North Shore is home to the bedroom communities of Saint Tammany, Tangipahoa Parish, and Washington parishes since the construction of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway bisecting the center of Lake Pontchartrain. These communities include Slidell, Covington, and Mandeville, all of which are rapidly growing.

River Parishes

The other communities are located in the river parishes of Saint Charles, Saint James, and Saint John the Baptist, which are located further up the Mississippi River between Lake Maurepas and the Arcadia Country. Some of these other communities include La Place and Reserve.

Transportation

The Louis Armstrong International Airport is located in western part of Jefferson Parish in the city of Kenner.

See also

External links


Flag of Louisiana

State of Louisiana

Capital:

Baton Rouge

Regions:

Acadiana | Florida Parishes | Greater New Orleans | Northwest Louisiana

Largest cities:

Alexandria | Baton Rouge | Bossier City | Houma | Kenner | Lafayette | Lake Charles | Metairie | Monroe | New Iberia | New Orleans | Shreveport

Parishes:

Acadia | Allen | Ascension | Assumption | Avoyelles | Beauregard | Bienville | Bossier | Caddo | Calcasieu | Caldwell | Cameron | Catahoula | Claiborne | Concordia | De Soto | East Baton Rouge | East Carroll | East Feliciana | Evangeline | Franklin | Grant | Iberia | Iberville | Jackson | Jefferson | Jefferson Davis | La Salle | Lafayette | Lafourche | Lincoln | Livingston | Madison | Morehouse | Natchitoches | Orleans | Ouachita | Plaquemines | Pointe Coupee | Rapides | Red River | Richland | Sabine | St. Bernard | St. Charles | St. Helena | St. James | St. John the Baptist | St. Landry | St. Martin | St. Mary | St. Tammany | Tangipahoa | Tensas | Terrebonne | Union | Vermilion | Vernon | Washington | Webster | West Baton Rouge | West Carroll | West Feliciana | Winn

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