|
|
[Public Affairs Office Home] | |
| New Orleans District History |
| Visit our new Local History Resources |
| Navigation |
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' involvement in New Orleans dates back to 1803, when an Army engineer was sent to the newly acquired city to study its defenses. The Corps' early work in the area was of a military nature, but soon expanded to include navigation and flood control.
By 1829, Army engineers had turned their attention to the development and maintenance of safe river channels. The Mississippi River--a vital transportation link between the Gulf of Mexico and the nation's heartland--was a dangerous waterway littered with snags (toppled trees), shoals and wrecked ships. Navigable waterways were vital to settlement, commerce and growth. The Corps was directed to make them safer and more reliable.
Today, New Orleans District's navigation work has grown to include the maintenance of 2,800 miles of navigable waterways--the largest maintenance dredging program in the Corps--the operation and maintenance of twelve locks and six control structures that service navigation, and extensive revetment work (reinforcing riverbeds and banks with concrete).
| Flood Control |
While navigation remained the Corps' primary role for the next 100 years, a series of floods--the largest occurring in 1927--made it clear that more effective flood control was needed. Years of experience on the river made the Corps the natural choice for such a task, and flood control became the Corps' second important mission in the area.
Most of New Orleans District's flood control work falls under the Mississippi River and Tributaries Project, a flood control plan consisting of four elements: levees, to contain flood waters; floodways, that provide an outlet for excess flood water; channel improvement and stabilization, to improve a river's flood carrying capacity; and tributary improvement, which includes reservoirs, pumping stations and control structures.
The district also performs extensive hurricane protection work, with four projects--Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity, Larose to Golden Meadow, Westwego to Harvey, and New Orleans to Venice -- currently under construction. Emergency repairs caused by Hurricane Andrew on Grand Isle, our fifth hurricane protection project, was completed in 1994.
| Environmental Engineering |
New Orleans District continues to build on its commitment and achievements in environmental engineering, and is working with the state and other federal agencies to address this region's critical and complex environmental challenges.
Louisiana's coastal wetlands -- 40 percent of the nation's total -- are a valuable resource that are disappearing at a rate of 25 square miles a year. The district is combating this process with innovative engineering projects: freshwater diversion structures push back saltwater intrusion and hinder marsh destruction, wetland habitats blossom after the placement of dredge spoil in subsiding marsh, and eroding barrier islands are shored up by a combination of retention dikes and strategically placed shoal material. These and other projects place New Orleans District in the forefront of the battle to preserve and restore Louisiana's coastal zone.
The district is also instrumental in carrying out the provisions of the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act of 1990. Notably, district team members hold key positions on a multi-agency task force that is planning and constructing various short and long-term projects to protect the coastal marshes of Louisiana.
| Support For Others |
Through its Support for Others program, the Corps of Engineers uses its engineering, environmental, and project management expertise to help other federal agencies execute their missions.
The Support for Others program makes the Corps' know-how available to a wide number of agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, Department of Transportation and National Park Service, which don't have adequate technical capability to properly manage the engineering needs of their projects. In addition, many federal agencies lack experience managing engineering and construction contracts with private firms. The Corps is able to provide assistance in these situations.
New Orleans District plays an active role in the
Corps' Support for Others program. Examples of
recent work for others include flood insurance
and restoration of emergency broadcasting station
properties for the Federal Emergency Management
Agency, construction of facilities for the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, environmental restoration
of inventory properties for the Farmers Home Administration,
and shoreline restoration for the National Park Service.
Additionally, the district has managed the Environmental
Protection Agency's complex and costly environmental
clean-up work of hazardous and toxic waste at Bayou
Bonfouca, Southern Shipbuilding, American Creosote,
and Popile, Inc.
|
 |