NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District awarded two contracts relating to the construction of the Western Tie In, which will link the Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System to the Mississippi River Levees on the west bank of New Orleans. This feature is a critical piece to reducing risk for residences and businesses from a storm surge that has a 1 percent chance of occurring each year.
“Currently, no risk reduction exists at the western end of the West Bank & Vicinity project,” said Julie Vignes, Senior Project Manager. “The Western Tie-In risk reduction feature has several different components, including levees, floodwalls, and floodgates; these contracts will begin construction of the levee portion of the tie-in.”
One contract requires the construction of dewatering cells to be built along the guide levee of the Davis Pond Freshwater Diversion. These dewatering cells will dry out the levee footprint to make way for actual levee construction. The contract was awarded to Phylway Construction, LLC of Thibodaux, LA for $10.9 million.
Another contract was awarded to DQSI, a local small business, for $5.3 million to construct 1 mile of levee that will stretch north from Highway 90 to the Mississippi River near the St. Charles/Jefferson Parish line.
This project will provide further risk reduction for the areas of Avondale, Waggaman, and Bridge City from storm surges entering Lake Cataouatche and the greater Barataria Basin. Construction of these levees should begin in October 2009 and be completed by October 2010.
The Western Tie-In project will require additional contracts in order to provide risk reduction for the area. These contracts will include the construction of a crossing over Highway 90 and a navigable closure structure on Bayou Verret. Award of these contracts is scheduled for the first quarter of 2010, with completion by hurricane season 2011.
The Corps is sharing responsibilities with its non-federal partners, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-West, and the West Jefferson Levee District.
Release no. 09-039