NEW ORLEANS -The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently awarded a $4.4 million contract to Louisiana-based Boh Bros Construction Company, LLC to build a closure structure at the BNSF Railroad Crossing in St. Charles Parish. The approximately 6-month contract calls for installing a new swing gate across the railroad; a notice to proceed will be issued early next month, and construction will be completed in January 2012.
The Western Tie-In (WTI), part of the West Bank & Vicinity Project, consists of approximately four and half 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.
The final contract for the WTI, which calls for constructing a closure structure at the UP Railroad Crossing and a ramp at Highway 18, will be awarded this summer.
Release no. 11-041