9 miles of levees enlarged, floodwalls constructed
While citizens on the West Bank of St. Charles Parish anxiously await construction of a levee system, those on the East Bank are now under protection from a 100-year storm surge event, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“We promised 100-year protection on the East Bank by June 1 and we completed that,” Steve Wilson, president of the Pontchartrain Levee District, said. “You have a 100-year levee.”
The levee, which stretches from the Bonnet Carre Spillway in St. Charles to the 17th Street Canal in Jefferson Parish, can now defend against a storm surge event that has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year after upgrades were recently completed.
“With completion of the interim measures at the Elmwood Pump Station and placement of the last T-wall monolith at the Cross Bayou Pump Station we now have features in place to defend against the 100-year storm surge on the East Bank of both Jefferson and St. Charles parishes,” said Brett Herr, branch chief in the Protection Restoration Office. “This represents a major milestone as we begin the 2011 hurricane season.”
Work on the East Bank of St. Charles Parish consisted of 13 contracts, including the enlargement of nine miles of levees, constructing new concrete floodwalls, building a railroad gate and replacing four drainage structures. All structural features in the area were built to an elevation of at least 15.5-feet above sea level. The total construction cost for projects on the East Bank of St. Charles Parish is approximately $100 million, according to the Corps.
The parish didn’t have to pay for any of the upgrades. Instead the Pontchartrain Levee District used credits to complete their portion of the project. Upgrades to every floodwall were also fully funded by the federal government, Wilson said.
Along with the 100-year protection now offered by the East Bank levee, a nearly $19 million pump station at Cross Bayou near Airline Drive in Destrehan is ahead of schedule, Wilson said.
The pump station, which is located on the East Bank Hurricane Protection Levee, is designed to pump 1,350 cubic feet of water per second.
“I can tell you that the pumps are sitting in the holes now and you will start seeing the structure being built around them,” Wilson said. “The engines are complete and telemetry is being installed on them as we speak.”
Wilson said the state-of-the-art pump station was also built at no cost to St. Charles Parish.
The pump station is a joint venture between the levee district and the state Department of Transportation. Motiva and Shell also contributed a combined $5 million to the project.
Though Jefferson Parish and the East Bank of St. Charles Parish are now under protection from a 100-year storm surge event, some work is still ongoing. Construction on the West Return Floodwall, Fronting Protection and Causeway will continue into 2012.
Efforts to get grass fully established on the new levees will also continue.
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