NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $495,000 contract on Oct. 30, reaching a pivotal milestone in reducing risk for residences and businesses in Orleans Parish. The Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) contract was awarded to Alberici Constructors for preconstruction services on the proposed Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Seabrook Floodgate Structure.
“We are committed to providing the 100-year level of risk reduction for the people in the greater New Orleans area in 2011,” said Col. Robert Sinkler, commander of the Hurricane Protection Office. “The proposed Seabrook Floodgate will close the one remaining gap along the lakefront and will work in tandem with the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal surge barrier already under construction.”
The ECI contract includes two subsequent options which, when awarded, would account for the majority of the estimated $155 million in construction costs. Those options include constructing the proposed Seabrook Floodgate Structure, which would consist of a navigable sector gate and two non-navigable vertical lift gates approximately 540 feet south of the Ted Hickey Bridge with floodwall tie-ins on the east and west sides.
During ECI, preconstruction services will run concurrent to the design effort, allowing for valuable and innovative collaboration between the design team and Alberici Constructors. When complete, the Seabrook floodgate and Lake Borgne surge barrier would reduce impacts to Orleans Metro, New Orleans East, Gentilly, the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish from a storm surge event that has a one percent chance of occurring in any given year. This Seabrook Floodgate Structure would reduce risk from storm surge generated through Lake Pontchartrain.
The Individual Environmental Report (IER) Tier 2 Pontchartrain, which investigates the alternative alignments and designs for Seabrook and also addresses the impacts of these alignments, construction methods, and other design details, will be out for a 30-day public comment period later this month.
Release no. 09-031