The idea of dismantling that stretch of I-10 has been in the air for a while now, largely because the state of Louisiana constructed a bypass in the late 1970s that siphoned off a considerable amount of the interstate’s traffic. Even so, I-10 is heavily used, so doing away with it entirely is a fraught proposition. There is also no clear consensus among neighborhood residents about what to do with the elevated highway: many of them want it gone, some are concerned that its elimination would flood the neighborhood with traffic (an unfounded fear, judging by the experiences of other cities), and others are afraid of the rapid development that seems sure to follow the removal of the overpass. To complicate matters further, because the acoustics underneath the highway magnify the sound of drums, the Mardi Gras Indians have grown quite fond of it.