NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently awarded a $16.5 million contract to Barriere Construction Company, LLC, a Louisiana-based firm, for construction of the Interstate 10 crossing in New Orleans East. Public safety is the Corps’ top priority and the project will reduce impacts from a 100-year storm surge event, which has a one percent chance of occurring in any given year.
The approximately thirteen month contract calls for raising the existing ramp at I-10 to elevation16.5 feet. The contract also includes tying into the existing levee system along that reach.
“This allows us to get another one of the key behind-schedule projects started in Orleans East,” said Col. Robert Sinkler, commander of the Hurricane Protection Office. “We are working very closely with our partners to help us get the remaining five New Orleans East projects under way to meet our mission of 100-year protection in June 2011.”
Construction on the I-10 crossing will begin this spring. Last month, the Corps awarded a contract to raise 7.5 miles of levees between South Point and the CSX Railroad Crossing to elevations between 18.5 and 25 feet. The contract also includes replacement of the existing floodgates at Highway 11 and Highway 90 to meet the 100-year design heights.
Release no. 10-095