By: Meah Matherne

Anywhere you walk in New Orleans, they are there. Broken streets, potholes punched in the concrete, and road work that doesn’t seem to do anything but make your life harder. The streets scrape up the bottom of your car as you drive and buckling sidewalks make a walk around the neighborhood an elevated hike. Many New Orleanians are justifiably upset with the state of infrastructure in the city, but many more find humor behind the laughably bad roads and acknowledge that the funkiness of the streets just further contributes to the hodge podge that is New Orleans.

At the center of all this “laughing to keep from crying” about the New Orleans streets, lies the Instagram account “@lookatthisfuckinstreet.” Started in 2019 by a New Orleanian who encountered all sorts of wacky roadwork as he drove around the city for work, the account features submissions from New Orleans residents of the unfinished road work that has sat in their front yards for months or the potholes that have existed long enough that residents have started celebrating their “birthdays.”

“Usually the New Orleans pothole accounts have a tone to them that’s hyper aggressive and political or they are really playful, almost cartoon-y. So I really wanted my account to be sort of politically agnostic and keep it formulaic, but with some humor to it,” said the account owner, who wished to remain anonymous during our interview.

While the account initially meant to be a humorous rag, the pictures, which can demonstrate just how bad some of these road issues actually are, has put some heat on RoadworkNOLA and the Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans to go out and fix the issues. While the account owner does not want to take all the credit for some road issues being solved, the timing, along with the fact that the Instagram accounts of Roadwork NOLA and S&W will reach out to ask for an address, has been suspicious.

The account owner recounts some of his biggest victories, saying, “There was a pothole in Teche, in Algiers, that I know personally has been there six plus years that was completely patched three days after I posted it.”

Other issues of infrastructure have been solved via @lookatthisfuckinstreet, such as roadwork that affected the livelihood of the Okay Bar and cars that have gotten stuck in potholes. The City has been extremely cooperative and often checks in with the account owner on different problems that he has posted. They have even acknowledged the helpfulness of the account in providing visual context for 3-1-1 reports and bringing awareness about issues to their corresponding departments quicker than they may have been able to respond alone.

@Lookatthisfuckinstreet hopes to keep the pressure on Roadwork NOLA through all as many infrastructure issues as possible and enjoys the fact that his account at least gives the citizens of New Orleans a chance to feel heard and seen by the institutions of the city.

As a business owner himself, he also loves to use the account to highlight small businesses in New Orleans.. A children’s book and a Muse Float have adopted roadwork themes with credits given to @lookathisfuckinstreet, along with jewelry and the creation of L.A.T.F.S. merchandise. The owner also loves the parodies that have sprung up of his account. He wants to keep the account “local” and will keep it going “as long as I can keep it funny.”

Ultimately, the account owner thinks that the screwed up roads and wacky infrastructure is just part of the charm of New Orleans and gives space for residents to demonstrate the unique creativity that they have used to overcome and make light of the issues in the city.

If he could say anything to Roadwork New Orleans, his message would be: “we’re patient, we’re understanding, we understand we have unique challenges in fixing the roads. All that anyone in the city really wants is better transparency when things will get done, and interdepartmental coordination so that issues are finished in a timely manner.”