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Project Status:
Approved Date: 1992 Project Area: 12,910 acres Benefit in 20 Years: 9,831 acres Project Type: Water Diversion Cost: $22.3 million Status: Construction |
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| Location: The diversion site is located on the west bank of the Mississippi River, in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, 4.7miles above Head of Passes. The project will divert Mississippi River water and sediments into West Bay. |
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| Restoration Strategy The objective of the project is to restore vegetated wetlands in an area that is currently shallow open water. The project will divert sediments in an effort to create, nourish, and maintain approximately 9,831 acres of fresh to intermediate marsh in the West Bay area over the 20-year project life. The project consists of a conveyance channel for the large-scale diversion of sediments from the river. The conveyance channel will be constructed in two phases: (1) construction of an initial channel with an average discharge of 20,000 cubic feet per second (cfs); (2) after a period of intensive surveillance, enlargement of the channel to a 50,000 cfs discharge. Material from the construction of the channel will be used to create wetlands in the diversion outfall area. The diversion may induce shoaling in the main navigation channel of the Mississippi River and the adjacent Pilottown anchorage area. Dredging of the main channel is accomplished under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ ongoing Operations and Maintenance Program for the river, but additional dredging of the anchorage area will be an added feature and cost of the project. The material dredged from the anchorage area will be used to create wetlands in the West Bay diversion outfall area. |
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| Progress to Date: An Environmental Impact Statement was completed in March 2002. Final project plans and specifications were approved in September 2002. Project construction began in September 2003. It is scheduled for completion in November of 2003. The Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Conservation and Restoration Task Force approved proceeding with the project at the current price of $22 million at their January 2001 meeting. Most of the increase in the project cost was for dredging of the anchorage area and the relocation of a 10-inch pipeline. This project is on Priority Project List 1. Project construction began in September 2003 and was completed in late November 2003. |
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Gregory B. Miller, CEMVN-PM-C
504-862-2310
Gregory.B.Miller@usace.army.mil
Page last updated: April 21, 2004