NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released the final version of the Lake Pontchartrain & Vicinity and West Bank & Vicinity General Re-evaluation Reports for a 30-day review beginning Aug. 6, 2021.
This period provides the public, stakeholders, and interested parties the opportunity to view the final version of the reports, with integrated environmental impact statements, that will be submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Director of Civil Works in fall of 2021.
The final reports each recommend conducting periodic levee lifts and structure modifications so the Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System around the greater New Orleans area will continue to provide 100-year level risk reduction through the year 2078.
Lake Pontchartrain & Vicinity (LPV): The recommended plan consists of 50 miles of levee lifts, 1 mile of floodwall replacements, and 2.2 miles of new floodwalls at total project cost of approximately $1.1 billion.
West Bank & Vicinity (WBV): The recommended plan consists of 49 miles of levee lifts, 268 feet of floodwall replacements, and 1 mile of new floodwall at total project cost of approximately $602 million.
Through both reports, existing levees would be lifted as-needed before the combined effects of consolidation, settlement, subsidence, and sea level rise reduce the levee elevations below the required design heights. In some reaches, levee lifts may need to occur more than once. Floodwalls that will need to be higher in the future, to address those same effects, will either be modified or replaced.
Each report, and environmental impact statement, found the recommendations economically justified, technically feasible, and environmentally acceptable. Future construction of the projects would generally occur in the same footprint as the existing levees and structures.
The final reports and supporting information are available online at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District website:
LPV: https://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/About/Projects/BBA-2018/studies/LPV-GRR/
WBV: https://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/About/Projects/BBA-2018/studies/WBV-GRR/
###