NEW ORLEANS -The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers yesterday awarded an $8.3 million contract to Louisiana-based Cajun Constructors to build a closure structure at the Union Pacific Railroad Crossing in St. Charles Parish. The approximately nine-month contract calls for installing a new swing gate across the railroad, as well as a ramp at Highway 18. The notice to proceed is expected to be issued later this week, and construction will be completed in spring 2012.
The Western Tie-In (WTI), part of the West Bank & Vicinity Project, consists of approximately 4.5 miles of levees and floodwalls along the Davis Pond Freshwater Diversion Canal and Outer Cataouatche Canal, as well as a navigable closure structure across Bayou Verret, an elevated crossing at Hwy 90, two railroad gates and a second highway crossing that ties into the Mississippi River Levee.
The structural features reduce the risk associated with a storm surge event that has a one percent chance of occurring in any given year. The total construction value of the WTI project is an estimated $140 million.