NAME OF PROJECT: Inner Harbor Navigational Canal Lock Replacement

DISTRICT AND LOCATION: New Orleans District, southeastern portion of Louisiana, within the city limits of New Orleans, in the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal (Industrial Canal), a vital link in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway system.

TYPE OF PROJECT: Inland Navigation

AUTHORIZATIONS: River and Harbor Act of 1956 (original authorization) and the Water Resources Development Acts (WRDA) of 1986 (re-authorized the project and established cost sharing requirements) and 1996 (authorization for the Community Impact Mitigation Plan).

STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS, ISSUES AND CONCERNS: The existing lock, built in 1923, is dimensionally too small to accommodate the existing traffic. The existing lock is 31.5 ft. deep by 75 ft. wide by 640 ft. long. The average delay to the navigation industry is 11 hours, but can be as much as 24-36 hours on many occasions. A highly urbanized area surrounds the existing lock on both sides of the canal. There will be some business relocations along the canal. The canal can't be shut down for long periods of time without major impacts to the navigation industry.

STATUS: Construction has begun with demolition of abandoned industrial businesses along the eastside of the canal adjacent to the new lock location. The Washington Group is the contractor on this job, which is being done under an existing Total Environmental Restoration Contract (TERC) with our Tulsa District. All of the aboveground structures have now been demolished. Underground structures, as well as canal side obstructions are now being removed. This contract is scheduled for completion in September 2003. A second construction contract providing for demolition of the Galvez St. Wharf was awarded to Virginia Wrecking Co. in April 2001. The aboveground warehouse has been demolished and the canal side wharf is now being removed. Completion of this contract is expected in December 2002. A third contract for construction of a levee/floodwall along the west side of the IHNC from St. Claude Ave. to the Mississippi River will be the next contract awarded pending adequate funding.

An A/E contract for the design of the lock and appurtenant features was awarded to the selected firm, URS Corp., in May 2002. Work on this contract should begin in January 2003.

On September 27, 2001 the Assistant Secretary of the Army signed the Project Cooperation Agreement. In addition, at the end of FY 01, $6 million was made available to this project. These two occurrences allowed us to execute an Act of Sale for a portion of the Real Estate from the Port of New Orleans for this project. An additional $3.8 million was available at the end of FY 02 and another partial sale was executed. An additional $7 million was made available this FY for the completion of that real estate purchase. The final act of sale will take place in December 2002.

FUNDING: The President's Budget for FY 2003 is $9 million. The house mark-up included $13 million and the Senate version included $15 million. Our capability is $25 million, including the $7 million required to complete the real estate purchase.

COMMUNITY IMPACT MITIGATION PLAN: Construction will impact nationally registered historic districts, community cohesion and aesthetics, traffic, and businesses in the area, even though no residential relocations will be required. This is the basis for the $38 million Community Impact Mitigation Plan, which was specifically authorized by Congress in the WRDA of 1996. Items in the mitigation plan include, but are not limited to, police protection, job training, reimbursement of business’ lost revenue, street improvements, housing revitalization program, educational enhancements, parks and playgrounds, historical/cultural markers and displays, and emergency medical services. These items were identified through a process of working with various neighborhood organizations and individuals over the last number of years.

The Corps awarded a contract on September 1999 to a team of consultants headed by GCR & Associates (Metro-Source, L.L.C., University of New Orleans College of Urban Affairs and Habitat for Humanity are the other team members) to establish a community-based committee, and execute a Partnering Agreement with this committee to develop the procedures and priorities for implementation of the mitigation plan. This is a multi-year contract that will continue to involve the public in the implementation of the mitigation plan. The team has set up the community-based committee, executed a partnering agreement, and began the regular meetings in early March 2000. A needs assessment and a proposed mitigation plan for the first three years of construction was completed in July 2000, which has now been updated to July 2002. The Corps is presently developing implementation strategies for the recommendations. The Committee has continued and will continue to meet to update and refine their recommendations.

As an initial use of the mitigation funds, the Corps awarded a contract for a job-training program, which was set-aside for a Historically Black College/University, to Xavier University in August 2000. This contract was geared to job-readiness and basic construction skills. Two seperate classes have graduated from the program over the last two fiscal years. Because of limited funding, we did not exercise the final option year on the Xavier contract. A seperate job training contract focusing on more specific construction job skills was awarded to Nunez College in December 2002.

We have had some delay in implementing additional mitigation measures, but now should begin to make more progress on implementation pending adequate funding. We are negotiating a Partnering Agreement with the City of N.O. and Friends of N.O.R.D. for improvements to playgrounds in the impacted area. This agreement should be executed early in 2003. We are also working with the N.O. School Board on a contract for a consultant to study the need for and to develop a conceptual plan for a new middle school to be located in the affected area. This contractis scheduled to be awarded early in 2003. A contract has been awarded to install a communication system at the bridges crossing the IHNC and at the existing lock so police and emergency medical vehicles can contact the bridges/lock for status reports on bridge/lock operations. In addition, we are working with the City of New Orleans and its police department to enter into a Grant Agreement to provide additional police services to the affected area, which may be initiated early in 2003.

ISSUES:

1. BRIDGES/TUNNELS. Residents of St. Bernard Parish have expressed serious concerns with the proposed bridges at St. Claude and Claiborne Ave. We have recommended replacement-in-kind for these crossings. They disagree with the impacts that were identified in our Evaluation Report. Our analysis showed that the bridges would have to be raised fewer times with the project in place than existing conditions, but the duration of the openings would be slightly longer. The St. Bernard residents, based on their analyses, predict more openings and much longer durations. The St. Bernard residents have requested, through the Congressional delegation, that we investigate the use of tunnels and higher bridges at these locations. We had studied higher bridges (high-rise, fixed span) at both of these locations previously and had determined that they would have significant impacts to the neighborhoods along the canal. In addition, any higher bridge, even a mid-rise at St. Claude Ave. would have impacts to the nationally recognized historic districts on both sides of the canal at that location. However, we never investigated a mid-rise bridge at Claiborne Ave. This alternative may not cause significant impacts as the other higher bridge alternatives were expected to cause. Therefore, we have awarded a contract to Modjeski & Masters for studies of a mid-rise bridge at this location. This bridge would be a higher mid-rise bridge than the existing one and provide more vertical clearance under the bridge than what was being proposed previously, a replacement-in-kind bridge.

   We contracted with URS Corporation, through one of our existing Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contracts, to investigate the feasibility and costs of tunnels at each of these crossings. They determined that tunnel construction in this area was feasible, but identified many impacts to the surrounding areas and determined that the costs of tunnels would be about $150-200 million more than the bridges being proposed. The study was completed in December 2001 at a cost of $170,000. We are performing in-house studies on the real estate, utility relocations, operation and maintenance, and mitigation costs associated with the tunnel alternatives. In addition, we are developing the benefits to the vehicular and navigation traffic associated with the fewer delays resulting from the tunnels. A supplemental Evaluation Report will be prepared documenting all of the studies on this issue and is scheduled for completion early in 2003.

   Coordination with the New Orleans Regional Planning Commission, who has traffic models of the area, is ongoing to update our traffic data. We are also working with the La. Department of Transportation and Development and the Port of New Orleans, the owners of the two bridges, and the various navigation interests in the area on this issue. We are working with our Engineering Research and Development Center (formerly the Waterways Experiment Station) on physical and computer simulation models to study this issue.

2. U.S. COAST GUARD RELOCATION. We are waiting for the U.S. Coast Guard to make a decision on the final location for the relocation of their facilities located adjacent to the existing lock. We provided them with $100,000 to perform a site selection study, which has now been in preparation for over two years. They are looking at sites in the vicinity of the existing canal, on the west bank of the Mississippi River, and a site in Mississippi. Their relocation is not yet on the critical path for the project, but may be in the near future if they don't decide. No estimate has been given as to when this decision will be made. The Corps will be responsible for 100% of the costs for their relocation, excluding any betterments.

3. EXISTING TONNAGE. Traffic volume through the existing lock has taken a sharp decline recently. We are workin with the Port of N.O. and other navigation interests to determine the reasons for this decline.

PROJECT FACTS:

Congress in the FY 99 Appropriations Bill approved the project as a Construction New-Start.

The recommended plan is for a deep draft lock (110 ft. wide by 1200 ft. long by 36 ft. deep) that is estimated to cost $655 million. The cost of a lock sized for inland navigation (110 ft. wide by 900 ft. long by 22 ft. deep) is $537.8 million. This latter cost will be cost shared 50-50 between the Inland Waterway Trust Fund and the regular Corps appropriations. The remaining costs for the recommended plan will be cost shared 65-35 between the Corps and the Port of New Orleans. Included, as part of the inland navigation increment, is the $38 million for a Community Impact Mitigation Plan. Some of the existing utility owners will have to pay for their own relocation, as they are non-compensable (Costs are October 2002 price levels). The breakdown of the costs are as follows:

Utility Owners                 $ 27,280,000
IWW Trust Fund             $263,708,000
Corps Appropriations       $332,084,000
Port of N.O.                    $ 31,928,000

Average annual benefits in the form of savings in transportation costs for the nation’s navigation industry is estimated at $110 million. The benefit-to-cost ratio is 2.0 to 1.

Besides the benefits to the navigation industry, this project will have additional benefits to the city, region and state that are not captured in our analysis. An average of at least 950 jobs annually can be created as a result of construction of this project. The city will get two new, more reliable bridges at St. Claude and Claiborne Ave. A $500 million construction project of this type can have significant, wide-ranging, positive economic impacts to the city and the state, as has been the case with similar projects in other areas. These impacts have been estimated to include producing an additional $1.4 billion in secondary spending in the metropolitan New Orleans area during the construction period, and generate another $23 million in local and state tax revenues during this period.

The lock construction would be accomplished using a pre-fabricated, float-in method, that involves building the lock out of concrete at a location away from the North of Claiborne Ave. site and floating it to the site in four pieces. This method allows us to build this lock in a highly congested urban area with NO residential relocations. A by-pass channel around the construction site and around the existing lock during its demolition will provide continuous operation of the existing lock and canal during the construction period.