NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District Commander Col. Alvin Lee recently signed the decision record for a supplement to an environmental report that expands the limits of the work area between South Point and Michoud Canal in New Orleans East. Public safety is the Corps’ top priority and the projects will reduce impacts from a 100-year storm surge event, which has a one percent chance of occurring in any given year.
At the time of the completion of the “Individual Environmental Report (IER) #7 Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity, New Orleans East Lakefront to Michoud Canal, Orleans Parish,” engineering details had not been finalized. Since then engineering designs and cost analysis have been further developed and the IER Supplemental addresses the potential impact to the natural or human environment as a result of these modifications.
Modifications to the proposed action include:
• a temporary traffic control bridge on Interstate 10 (I-10) across Irish Bayou;
• the expansion of the limits of construction for levee / highway tie-ins and at the Highway 90 and Interstate 10 crossings;
• a temporary road closure on Highway 11;
• barge access locations;
• construction of T-wall along portion between the CSX Railroad Crossing and Michoud Canal; and
• raising and relocating the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) pump stations.
Alternative arrangements allow the Corps to expedite the environmental process required of all federally-funded projects while fully complying with the intent of the National Environmental Policy Act. IER documents are available on www.nolaenvironmental.gov.
Questions or comments concerning the Corps’ environmental process may be addressed to:
Patricia Leroux
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
P.O. Box 60267
New Orleans, LA 70160-0267
Phone: 504-862-1544
Fax: 504-862-2088
E-mail: mvnenvironmental@usace.army.mil.
Comments may also be provided by visiting: www.nolaenvironmental.gov
For more information or to sign up to be on a meeting notification list please visit the following Web site: www.nolaenvironmental.gov.
Release no. 10-082