(Corps of Engineers)
Another segment of the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain Levee is being contracted.
The Army Corps of Engineers announced Friday that it has awarded a $22.6 million contract to build another 1.8 miles of the 17.5-mile-long West Shore Lake Pontchartrain levee in St. John the Baptist and St. Charles parishes. The contract was awarded to Onshore Materials LLC of Thibodaux to elevate that segment of the levee to 12.5 feet above sea level. When complete, the levee is supposed to protect from flooding caused by a hurricane storm surge with a 1 percent chance of occurring in any year, a so-called 100-year storm. That water height has a 26% chance of occurring during the life of a 30-year mortgage. In a news release announcing the contract, the Corps pointed out that while designed to reduce damage from surge associated with tropical events, the system is not designed to reduce the risk of flooding from rainfall. The full levee project is expected to cost $760 million. “The award of this contract for the system’s easternmost and third-highest elevation levee is an important milestone as we continue to gain momentum in the delivery of the WSLP program,” said Col. Cullen A. Jones, New Orleans District commander. More information on the West Shore project is available at the Corps’ Facebook page and website. The Corps has posted several videos of construction efforts on the levee on its Facebook page, including this early aerial view of initial construction.
Eventually the whole will be done.
