Public meeting scheduled for Wednesday, Jun. 9, 2010
NEW ORLEANS, LA – As part of the Greater New Orleans Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System, the Western Tie-In project will connect the Westbank and Vicinity project to the Mississippi River Levee in St. Charles Parish and will temporarily impact the traffic flow along River Road (LA 18) at the Davis Pond Freshwater Diversion.
“We’ve been working closely with St. Charles Parish elected officials, the Department of Transportation, the Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration, St. Charles Parish School Board, the St. Charles Parish Sherriff’s Office and the Lafourche Basin Levee District to minimize the temporary traffic impacts that would be generated on River Road,” said Jeff Williams, project manager. “Our revised proposal is to construct a temporary bypass road at River Road that would be managed by the St. Charles Parish Sherriff deputies 24-hours per day for the duration of construction.”
The current project schedule calls for River Road (LA 18) at the Davis Pond Freshwater Diversion to be detoured for approximately 45 to 60 days. School bus and emergency vehicle traffic will continue to travel on River Road without delay, however local traffic can take the official detour route to Hwy 90 or may continue on River Road with traffic delays on the temporary bypass road. Details of the detour route and temporary bypass on LA 18 are under development.
On site construction on this portion of the Western Tie-In project is expected to begin in December 2010, completion is scheduled in February 2011.
“We’re working with the Corps and partners to ensure that residents of St. Charles Parish are impacted as little as possible and have asked the Corps to try to maintain two lanes of traffic on the south side of River Road if it is feasible,” said V.J. St. Pierre, St. Charles Parish president. “The end result of this temporary inconvenience is reduced risk of storm surge.”
The Western Tie-In project, once complete, will reduce risk for residents living in St. Charles and Jefferson Parish.
The Corps will discuss the proposed plan at a public meeting on Wednesday, Jun. 9, 2010.
Meeting details are:
When: Wednesday, Jun. 9, 2010
Open house 6 to 6:30 p.m.
Presentation and discussion 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Where: Cytec’s Tom Call Pavilion
10800 River Rd.
Waggaman, LA 70094
Questions or comments concerning the Western Tie-In project should be addressed to:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
c/o Public Affairs
PO Box 60267
New Orleans, LA 70160-0267
Phone: 504-862-2201
Fax: 504-862-1724
E-mail: AskTheCorps@usace.army.mil