If your Memorial Day weekend plans involve a long bike ride, the path atop the Mississippi River levee in Orleans Parish is unofficially open for recreation again.

Parts of that path have been closed to the public for a year and a half as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers raised the levee by up to two feet to deal with subsidence.

The project moved upriver into Jefferson Parish earlier this year, but the opening of the path in Orleans Parish was delayed because the new one lacked the appropriate shoulder. There was a drop of 8 to 10 inches from the asphalt to the grass, an unsafe condition that had to be fixed before the path could be used.

The contractor still has to remove the temporary fencing and do some grading at the base of the levee in Orleans Parish, said corps spokesman Ricky Boyett. But when machinery isn’t there, the path is open for use.

“We expect this work to take approximately two weeks, after which the residents should regain full access,” Boyett said in an email.

That means people can now run and bike from the Fly to the Jefferson Parish line. The path is closed for about two miles starting at the parish line.

The work in Jefferson Parish will close parts of the levee path for about two years.