New Orleans is preparing to pump the brakes on citywide road projects with a spending deadline for a $1.7 billion federal grant looming at the end of the year, meaning dozens of city blocks in construction could be stuck in limbo when Mayor-elect Helena Moreno takes office next year.

The city could forfeit around $500 million if the Federal Emergency Management Agency doesn't extend the deadline. Mayor LaToya Cantrell's administration requested the extension in August, but there's no telling when a decision might come.

The Cantrell administration will soon issue stop-work orders, according to a document city officials shared with incoming Moreno administration officials and others on Wednesday.

The situation has rankled leaders of a city that has long struggled with cracked and crumbl

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