By Kimberly Hopson
L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District will soon reveal to the public which option will be used in its West Shore Lake Pontchartrain Project, and St. James Parish President Timmy Roussel advises St. James residents to contact Louisiana congressional representatives and insist that the agency chooses the “best option.”
During its Neighborhood Focus meeting in May, the Army Corps displayed three levee alignments for the WSLP project: Alignment A, C and D. All three options would begin on the west guide levee of the Bonnet Carre Spillway, then proceed along the pipeline corridor until U.S. Highway 51, wrap around underneath Interstate 10 and Interstate 55, then return to cross back over U.S. 51.
According to the maps the corps revealed during the meeting, Alignment A would run back along the ramp to U.S. 51 to I-10, where it would run through LaPlace until it meets the Belle Terre exit. It would then come down and follow along the “limits of development” in LaPlace to Hope Canal, where it would tie into the Mississippi River Levee.
Project Manager Jeffrey Varisco said this option would be somewhat expensive since it crosses over pipelines.
Alignment C was referred to as the “pipeline avoidance” option, since it would be shifted outward to avoid pipelines. C would begin at I-55 and run along an existing transmission pipeline corridor. It would stay to the north of I-10 until about midway in the three-mile elevated stretch of the roadway, where it would duck underneath I-10 and follow the existing corridor again. It would continue until Hope Canal, where it would also tie into the Mississippi River levee.
Varisco said alignments A and C would both be supplemented by non-structural measures such as ring levees, elevation and floodproofing.
The last option, Alignment D, was the public favorite, as it was viewed as the “total package” for storm protection. D would also stay generally north of I-10 until the elevated stretch, where it would dip inward and follow the roadway. However, instead of just protecting I-10 in LaPlace, D would run all the way to Ascension Parish, where it would tie off at the St. Martinville pump station and run into the local levee system.
Varisco said this alignment “does a number of things that the other alignments don’t do” in that it protects the evacuation corridor for U.S. Highway 61 and I-10 and provides structural risk reduction for the entire study area.
Roussel said he has an eerie feeling the Corps will choose Alignment C and is concerned that the alignment will cause water to funnel into St. James Parish. Roussell also said he addressed his concerns with an engineering firm who agreed with him about the funneling. Levees around Ascension Parish would also help push water into the area, according to Roussell.
“The interstate, Highway 61 and the railroad track would not stop the storm surge,” he said.
“They (the engineering firm) are telling us that the water that has left land in the St. John area will have to go somewhere. The only thing it can do is follow that levee into St. James, because St. James will be open,” Roussel added.
Roussel also said the corps should be more willing to go with Alignment D, since it would likely end up costing the agency more money to build ring levees and other non-structural measures with the other two options than it would cost to add a few more miles to the levee. The parish president expressed the same opinion during a St. James Council meeting in July.
The Army Corps has yet to announce a date for the big reveal, though it initially planned for mid-August. If Alignment D is not chosen, Roussell said the issue will be “at the top of his list” during the October Washington, D.C., River Region Chamber of Commerce fly-in.
“If, in fact, they’re willing to spend all of that money, seems like it would be cheaper to just build 10 more miles of levee,” he said. “So if it is C, I’ll be doing battle, because the only people who can overturn the decision of the corps is Congress. We’re going to continue with full-court press until they make that decision.”
Roussel urges the public to let their feelings be known by contacting the corps’ Public Affairs Office, U.S. congressional representatives and state representatives. To view the alignment maps, visit www.mvn.usace.army.mil.