NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Team New Orleans, recently installed a 56-foot-wide steel sector gate in the Caernarvon Canal. Both 95-ton leaves were fabricated in Morgan City, La., before being placed in the canal. The gates will defend against a storm surge event that has a one percent chance of occurring each year.
“The Corps team worked closely with St. Bernard Parish and industry stakeholders to determine the design most appropriate for this project,” said Chris Gilmore, senior project manager for St. Bernard Parish risk reduction projects. “This gate is the last of two sector gates in St. Bernard Parish to be installed.”
The contract was awarded to New Jersey-based Conti Federal Services, Inc. in June 2010. The sector gate crosses the Caernarvon Canal and is 36 feet tall (10 feet below the water, 26 feet above) and 56 feet wide. It is made of reinforced concrete and steel, and each steel gate leaf weighs approximately 95 tons. The sector gate cost approximately $20.2 million, the entire contract was awarded for $46.9 million.
The sector gate at the Caernarvon Canal is a major component of the Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity 149 contract, which also includes construction of a new floodwall alignment and trolley gates at Highway 39 and the Norfolk Southern Railroad crossing. The entire project is on schedule to be completed by June 1, 2011. The sector gate will remain open at all times except in anticipation of a tropical event.
Questions and comments related to construction impacts may be addressed to the Corps’ Construction Impacts Hotline at 877-427-0345.
Release no. 11-083