The West Shore Lake Pontchartrain project is located in southeast Louisiana on the east-bank of the Mississippi River in St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, and St. James parishes in southeast Louisiana. The West Shore Lake Pontchartrain Chief’s report was published in June 2015 and the project has been included in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.
Project Purpose and Features
More than 60,000 people in the three-parish study area have little to no hurricane risk reduction in place. Additionally, the dominant evacuation route for the New Orleans metropolitan area
(I10) bisects the study area. During Hurricane Isaac, storm surge inundated approximately 7,000 homes and the interstate was submerged for several days slowing emergency response across the region. The Project will construct a 100-year level risk reduction system extending from the Bonnet Carre spillway to Garyville.
100-year storm surge risk reduction will be achieved by a variety of structural and non-structural features to include: levees, floodwalls, and pumps. While these features will reduce risk from storm surge associated with tropical events, they do not specifically reduce risk of flooding from significant rainfall.
Project Status
The project design team continues to work with the Non-Federal sponsor to acquire Rights of Entry (ROE) and coordinate with utilities and pipelines within the project footprint. Three contracts are underway stockpiling clay and sand for use in levee construction. A contract to construct access roads was awarded in August 2021. Test sections have been awarded with additional construction anticipated in Spring of 2022.