NOLA District Awards Two Contracts For Lake Pontchartrain Levee Project
Despite announcing just over a month and a half ago that the New Orleans Engineer District will need an additional $2.97 billion to complete the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain Project, a much-anticipated flood protection system that will shield communities along the southwestern shore of the lake from storm surge, the district continues to make progress on the project with funds already on hand.
The New Orleans District announced on August 23 that it has awarded a construction contract for the fourth levee reach for the project. The contract went to Lafayette, La.-based EvCo Development, which will be paid close to $22.4 million to build Reach 108 of the levee system, which will stretch about 1.5 miles. Work will take place in St. John the Baptist Parish, and the levee will be built to an elevation of 8.6 feet.
Less than a week later, on August 28, the New Orleans District announced it had awarded the fifth levee construction contract for levee Reach 104. That contract, valued at just under $39 million, was awarded to Baton Rouge, La.-based Dynamic Group and will involve the construction of about 2.5 miles of levee built to an elevation of 11.5 feet.
Overall, the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain Project will be made up of 17.5 miles of levees, a mile of T-wall, pumping stations and other drainage structures and non-structural protection features, all of which will provide a “100-year level risk reduction” to the area primarily in St. John the Baptist, St. James and St. Charles parishes, according to the announcement from the New Orleans District.
The system, first studied after Hurricane Betsy in 1965, was authorized in 2016 and “fully funded” with $760 million from the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. In July 2021, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for the project, which will run from near where the Bonnet Carré Spillway meets Lake Pontchartrain west to near Garyville, where it will tie in to the Mississippi River.
The New Orleans District has divided the cost increase for the project into two categories: flood protection features and environmental mitigation measures. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) will need an additional $1.27 billion for flood protection features. Another $1.7 billion is needed for the environmental mitigation measures and anticipated levee lifts during the system’s 50-year lifespan.
Col. Cullen Jones, commander of the New Orleans District, said that, despite the additional funding needed, the district and its non-federal sponsors are committed to moving the project forward.
“USACE along with its partners at the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and Pontchartrain Levee District remain committed as we gain momentum on providing crucial protection to the three-parish area,” Jones said.
