INDUSTRIAL CANAL LOCK REPLACEMENT PROJECT

The existing Industrial Canal Lock is a vital link in the nation's inland waterway navigation system. It connects the Mississippi River, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW), the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MRGO), the Industrial Canal (also known as the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal), and Lake Pontchartrain. The Port of New Orleans completed the existing lock in 1921. Now a historic engineering landmark, it has served its purpose well for many decades.

Growth in waterway traffic over the years has made the Industrial Canal Lock one of the nation's most congested locks with an average wait of 10 hours, but often as much as 24-36 hours. The basic problem is that the current lock is simply too small to accommodate the volume of existing and future traffic. The lock is 75 feet wide by 640 feet long and 31.5 feet deep. The replacement lock will be 110 feet wide by 1200 feet long and 36 feet deep. The new lock will provide continued deep-draft access to the Industrial Canal and an almost three-fold increase in lock chamber capacity.

Replacement of the lock was originally authorized in the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1956, but many years of planning and community involvement were required before Congress authorized construction in 1998. Planning for the new lock has been very controversial with earlier design alternatives involving significant loss of wetlands in St. Bernard Parish or major disruptions to the densely urbanized areas adjoining the existing lock in New Orleans. A product of community input and innovative design, the authorized project provides for construction of the new lock without residential relocations and with minimal disruption to navigation traffic in the canal and vehicular traffic on bridge crossings over the canal.

Although the project has been designed to minimize disruptions, the magnitude and duration (approximately 12 years of project construction) will impact adjoining urban areas including two historic districts. In order to address these impacts, Congress specifically authorized a $37 million Community Impact Mitigation Plan in the Water Resources Development Act of 1996. Mitigation will address job training, improved police protection, upgrading existing playgrounds and many other improvements. The Mitigation Plan is considered an innovative and integral feature of the project and it is being implemented as construction gets underway. In fact, for its mitigation work, the American Planning Association honored the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its contractor, gcr & associates, inc. with a national planning award, "Outstanding Non-Military Federal Planning Project" of 2001.

The POC for project information:

Page last updated: April 29, 2002