NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Team New Orleans, achieved a major milestone on the Orleans Parish lakefront this week with the installation of three roadway gates that will reduce the risk of a storm surge event that has a one percent chance of occurring in any given year, or a 100-year storm surge event.
On Wednesday, May 11, the Corps and its contractor, Quality Enterprises, USA, Inc., installed a 16-foot-high vehicle gate at the Leon C. Simon Drive eastbound off-ramp near the Seabrook Boat Launch on the west side of the Industrial Canal. The installation of the gate was the last remaining piece of that contract, which included modifying a vehicle floodgate on the Leon C. Simon westbound off-ramp to Lakeshore Drive, constructing a new ramp connecting Lakeshore Drive to the University of New Orleans and replacing pre-existing I-walls with T-walls along Leon C. Simon next to the Seabrook Boat Launch.
On Friday, May 13, the Corps and its contractor, Aqua Terra – Cayo, JV, finished the installation of two gates on Lakeshore Drive – one near Rail Street, and one further east near Lake Terrace Drive. The gate near Rail Street was constructed to an elevation of 18 feet above sea level, while the gate near Lake Terrace Drive is about 18.5 feet above sea level.
Completion of the abovementioned work enables the Corps to demobilize the contractors and reduce construction impacts to area residents and businesses. In addition, the completion of the projects will allow the Corps to remove construction-related road closures on Lakeshore Drive.
With the completion of these projects, nearly the entire Orleans Parish lakefront between the 17th Street Canal and the Industrial Canal is at the 100-year level of risk reduction. The remaining work in this area includes construction of T-walls and a railroad gate just west of the Seabrook Floodgate Complex and T-walls and floodgates between the 17th Street Canal and Topaz Street. All work will be complete before June 1, 2011.
Release no. 11-068